Pho Truck a Street-Food Fakeout?

After What the Pho’s initial splash the mobile soup vendor has been quiet, and now its very existence is being called into question. Chowhound noodle expert Melanie Wong (she of the ramen list) floated the suggestion on the message board last night that the truck might be a prank: “Good chance this truck is as fake as Britney Spears death on twitter. A lot of things don’t add up.” Indeed, we found a few discrepancies.

For one thing, the photo on What The Pho’s twitter stream doesn’t seem to be taken anywhere in the area, as Wong and others point out, and the truck in the photo is a Thai taxi, not a Pho vendor. Also, direct messaging seems to be disabled on the account. Of course that’s pretty inconclusive as it could be just an easy-to-use photo and maybe they just don’t want people bothering them, but still.

A better clue comes from the twitter content itself, which notes that the “home base” is at Kearny and Montgomery streets, which don’t intersect. Again, though, that’s not really evidence of a fake-out. This mystery vendor could have just made a type-o.

The real evidence that there might not be a there there comes from the sheer lack of buzz. If this operation is headquartered in San Francisco and selling in the city as well as in the South and East Bay, we find it hard to believe nobody has taken a photo or started a Yelp page. From what we can find, though, there is not a single image or review of this mysterious soup online.

Come to think of it, pho does seem like an awkward food to sell as a mobile vendor, but then we’d have said that about creme brulee, too, and you know how popular that guy is. If you see this elusive truck, do please let us know. Otherwise, we’re with Wong on this one: Phonier than vegan leather.

Photo via What The Pho/twitter

Pho Truck a Street-Food Fakeout?