Lots of my friends ask why all of my favorite Pho restaurants have numbers in them, like my personal favorite, Pho75, in Court House, Arlington, VA. Well, here’s some insight from Serious Eats:
Oftentimes they’re lucky numbers. “In some Asian cultures, eight is associated with wealth or prosperity. Repetition is considered desirable (Olympics started 8/8/08). Or to mark a date in Vietnamese history, or the owners’ personal life.” For example, Ph? 67 could stand for 1967, the year the owner fled Vietnam during the war. The Ph? 75s of the world are probably honoring 1975, the year Saigon fell.
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There’s no one fleeing the Vietnam war in 1967. Pho 67 must have a different reason for this name. Here’s why pho restaurants have numbers in their names.