In the 1999 movie The Watcher, James Spader’s character, Campbell, lives not far from our house on Argyle Street. Every night Campbell walks across the street from his apartment and has dinner at Phở Xe Lửa.
One evening Campbell is having dinner with his colleague Hollis. Hollis is frustrated by the mechanics of eating a bowl of phở, and declares the venue “the worst restaurant in Chicago”. (Campbell counters that it’s a fine restaurant.)
We’d been by the restaurant many times since seeing the movie, but we never ate there. Tonight we decided to give it a try.
Alas, after twenty-two-plus years, the Health Department closed them down a few weeks ago.