If you spend a lot of time at BWI, you’re aware that it’s best to get a good meal before you arrive at the airport. So when I recently had the occasion to head toward Friendship Road, I did some recon to find a good place to get phở in close proximity—and thus discovered Phở District in Glen Burnie. True, it’s seven miles away rather than on the actual concourse, but seven miles is a small price to pay if it means heading onto a flight with a belly full of comfort food.
Phở District is the first location of a new franchise that opened a year ago and has since debuted four more eateries in College Park, Laurel, Wheaton, and Pentagon City. (Another is slated to open in Arbutus in about two months.) It’s a cozy, charming place, with blond-wood tables, colorful floor-to-ceiling murals, lights suspended from the ceiling, and plenty of neon on the outside.
Unsurprisingly, it’s located in a shopping center, stocked with a nail salon, a Subway, and a Social Security Administration outpost. It’s also down the street from a huge hospital complex, which is likely the reason for its pragmatic location.
The oversized bowls of phở here are splendid, traditional iterations made with beef stock that’s been slow-simmered for 20 hours with aromatics. They’re accompanied by the necessary plate of sprouts, limes, Thai basil, and jalapeños, with the obvious accouterments (Sriracha, hoisin, chile sauce) on the table. And then there are the bowls themselves, filled with rice noodles; scallions; opaque threads of raw onions; and rare beef, tendon, chicken, tofu, or whatever iteration you’re requiring or craving at the time.
They also have a rendition of phở called bún bò huế, the Central Vietnamese soup super-charged with beef, pork, lemongrass, noodles, and spice that the late Anthony Bourdain famously labeled “the greatest soup in the world.”
Unlike many phở joints, District also has an extensive menu of additional items, including bánh mì, noodle soups, rice plates, vermicelli dishes, and fried rice. Appetizers include spring and summer rolls, fried tofu, butterflied shrimp, decked-out chicken wings (honey-Sriracha, Buffalo, Old Bay, Nashville-hot), and, marvelously, Korean bulgogi loaded fries. There are drinks, too: Vietnamese coffee (a profound improvement on airport Starbucks), boba, milk teas, and fruit teas.
Another rare offering are jars of District’s own house-made chile sauce. Are they small enough to take onboard in your carry-on? Maybe not, but that’s why checked luggage exists.
If you’re really smart, you’ll ask the staff to give you a little take-out cup of the stuff that will make it through airport security. If you’re reduced to a tray meal, spooning out chile crisp onto your chicken primavera might be the only thing that keeps you sane. (My opinion, of course.)