Crunch, tang and survival: Fort Smith’s Vietnamese food scene is an American story

That I was nearly mowed down by a pickup truck the size of a tank in Pho Cao Noodle House’s parking lot in Van Buren is a testament to how mainstream Vietnamese food has become in the part of Arkansas where the River Valley meets Oklahoma. Once safely inside, I sat next to a group of men on their lunch break discussing Bible verses over plates of fried rice. Another couple debated what size pho to order. The sound of a spatula hitting a steaming wok thrummed in the background. What might have seemed foreign 50 years ago now feels…