Phorale, which opened quietly this past May in a tiny corner of a convenience store in South Park, is trying to answer a thorny question: Can you call your food fusion and still be proud of it? Owners Jimmy Bui and Young Cho are Vietnamese and Korean respectively, and they are unabashed about mixing cuisines you might not normally think go together. I randomly stumbled upon Phorale when I stopped by the South Park Grocery to satisfy a Cheez-It craving and happened to see fresh sriracha bottles on tables in the previously abandoned dining nook.
They were closed, but I was curious, so I grabbed a paper menu. I was instantly intrigued by their mascot: a dragon eating pho in a sombrero. After perusing their offerings—pho, banh mi, egg rolls, dressed fries, and a Philly cheesesteak, all augmented by Mexican-inspired sauces and with heavy Korean influence—and determining that they were indeed attempting to be a bulgogi-serving, pho-simmering, sombrero-wearing dragon of a restaurant, I was left wondering, “Can you even do all that?”