Chef ladling 22-hour broth at Fire Pho, a late-night Vietnamese restaurant in Huntington Beach, CA.

FIRE PHO · HUNTINGTON BEACH

THE STORY BEHIND HUNTINGTON BEACH'S LATE-NIGHT VIETNAMESE

Every bowl starts the night before — 22 hours of slow-simmered broth, served late in Huntington Beach.

The Beginning

ORANGE COUNTY'S VIETNAMESE,
DONE RIGHT.

Fire Pho wasn't built on a concept. It was built on a recipe. The broth came first — the one thing our team refused to rush.

Charred onion. Star anise. Cloves toasted in-house. Brisket sliced thin enough to cook in the ladle. Twenty-two hours, every night. No shortcuts. Heat you can dial from a whisper to "are you sure about this?"

No corporate origin story. No Instagram-first strategy. Just a crew serving Vietnamese food in Huntington Beach — late into the night, long after most of Orange County has closed up. That includes our bún bò Huế, simmered in its own pot with lemongrass and shrimp paste.

22hr

Broth simmer

Signature bowls

10pm

Open late

Fire Pho cook pouring slow-simmered broth in the Huntington Beach kitchen.

The Pour.

The steam's not ambiance. It's proof the broth is still working.

The Craft

22 hours isn't the selling point. It's the minimum.

Beef bones. Charred aromatics. Roasted star anise, cinnamon, and cloves, each pulled at exactly the right point. The fat skimmed twice. The broth clarified, then reduced — the backbone of every bowl of beef noodle soup we serve.

We don't use a timer. We use taste. When the bowl is right, that's when we stop.

That's the bowl you're getting. The same one. Every time — whether it's a quick Vietnamese lunch or a late dinner run from Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley, or Little Saigon.