My family of nine traveled across the sea in a tiny boat from Vietnam to America thirty years ago. They wanted to leave a culture that had little future for me and their children after the Vietnam war. My uncle’s (owner of PHO!) wife found a way to obtain them a boat at the time. They initially stopped in Indonesia, where they performed foot massages for three years. They sailed to the United States after receiving assistance in obtaining US citizenship, traveling from Southeast Asia to the east coast of America. There were times when tree leaves and their blood were their only sources of nutrition. Sadly, one of my uncles and our owner’s wife died on the journey. All boats that tried the journey had a survival percentage of around 50%. (A total of 800,000 refugees) Once they arrived in America, they had to begin a new life. We are now excited to start our restaurant serving food from thousands of kilometers distant.