Set in a tidy, bright-orange dining room on N Killingsworth St, this bustling little joint holds a virtual monopoly on its niche among North Portland’s growing array of cuisines—in other words, there aren’t many other Vietnamese restaurants to choose from ’round these parts. Admittedly, Pho Jasmine does toss in a little Chinese and Thai flair (the menu includes staples such as kung pao chicken and pad Thai). But most diners here seem to have arrived for the serviceable pho with beef brisket or chicken, or the salt and pepper shrimp, or the surprisingly addictive Vietnamese hot-and-spicy, fish-sauce-laced, battered-and-fried chicken with rice. Food comes to your table within minutes of your order, which makes sense considering how many hungry students from nearby PCC’s Cascade campus the café has to feed. The demands of that clientèle explain the number of Vietnamese coffees—espresso sweetened with condensed milk—coming out of the kitchen too.