Customers who visit Phoke Noodles when it’s not too busy might see the owner, Tai Nguyen, hunched over a laptop behind the counter.
He and his wife, Hang Nguyen, opened Phoke Noodles in 2023 to give Prosper a taste of the food they grew up eating, he said.
In between wrapping spring rolls and pouring bowls of pho, Tai Nguyen works remotely as an information technology engineer.
Even though it can put a strain on his schedule, running Phoke Noodles helps Nguyen destress from his day job and nurture his passion for cooking, he said.
Must-try menu items
The star of Phoke Noodles’ menu is pho, a traditional Vietnamese beef noodle soup served with bean sprouts, basil, cilantro and jalapeños on the side.
Nguyen makes the broth from scratch by simmering beef bones for at least 24 hours, then adding spices like cinnamon, star anise, ginger and onion.
It was Hang Nguyen’s idea to serve the pho in hot stone bowls that keep the broth warm even on cold winter nights.
“It’s a comfort food, and I wanted to share that with the community,” Tai Nguyen said.
Nguyen’s cooking is rooted in family traditions, he said. His mom taught him how to make pho while he was growing up in Vietnam, and he learned his way around a commercial kitchen by working at his sister’s restaurant when he was in college.
In addition to handcrafted pho, customers shouldn’t overlook items like the grilled pork chop or the sweet and sour chicken, two dishes he added to the menu because his son liked eating them so much at home, Nguyen said.
“I have a few regulars who come in just for those items,” he said. “[They’re] not very popular, but when people try it, they love it.”
Looking for a libation?
Another of Phoke Noodles’ staples is Viet coffee, a slow-drip coffee made using a metal filter and sweetened with condensed milk.
Nguyen uses robusta beans, a species of coffee grown in central Vietnam near his home town, he said.
He brews a large batch in advance for convenience, and customers who want to take things slow can order a single serving of Viet coffee that brews at the table.
The time it takes to brew the coffee helps bring people together, Nguyen said, letting friends and family chat while the coffee drips.
Other drinks on the menu include salted lemonade, club soda with salted plum and smoothies made with real fruit.
Phoke Noodles used to offer boba, but Nguyen took it off the menu when a bubble tea shop moved in next door, he said. Now, customers can pop over to Feng Cha and bring back a bubble tea to enjoy with their meal.
“I don’t mind,” Nguyen said. “It’s my neighbor!”
Meet the chef
Before he opened Phoke Noodles, Nguyen served in the military, he said. He did a yearlong tour in Afghanistan after 9/11, then met his wife when he was stationed in Hawaii.
The couple moved to California, where Nguyen built a career in IT. After the COVID-19 pandemic, the family moved to Prosper so his kids could enroll in Prosper ISD.
Nguyen’s son is a sophomore at Texas A&M, and his daughter will graduate from Rock Hill High School next year, he said.
After settling down in Prosper, Nguyen noticed a lack of pho restaurants in the area and saw an opportunity.
“We cook at home all the time, so I said, ‘Why don’t we open a restaurant?’” he said.
Even after opening Phoke Noodles, Nguyen still works in IT full-time.
On an average day, Nguyen will spend the morning at Phoke Noodles working on his laptop, step away from his computer to help out with the lunch rush, then log back on until customers start coming in for dinner around 6 p.m.
“It’s really challenging, balancing both careers,” he said.
Looking ahead
Like many small businesses, one of Nguyen’s biggest concerns is keeping menu prices down amid rising costs.
“We want to keep the integrity of the pho … but we don’t want to raise the price and impact the customers,” Nguyen said.
Keeping costs low is especially hard when it comes to inventory, he said. Nguyen orders fresh ingredients every week, and the prices tend to fluctuate.
The Nguyens might try expanding Phoke Noodles some day, but for now, their focus is on providing consistent, comforting food, Nguyen said.
“Maybe [we’ll open] another place later,” he said. “Right now we want to keep it stable and serve this community.”
