Yummy Noodles

[Pan]

I stopped in this place at 48 Bowery (entrance in the arcade) for dinner yesterday evening around 7ish. The place is very popular with Chinese people. I had some pretty good Soy Sauce Chicken on rice (next time, I'll try to remember to ask for legs). The menu also includes congee, casseroles, and various other dishes, as well as noodles. Worth a try for a cheap meal, and I plan on going back a bunch of times, as long as I like the food.

[weinoo]

I've been to this place a number of times in the past year or so, and find it consistently good - the name is deceiving, as the signature dish are the rice casseroles cooked in sandy pots. When you get to the crunchy stuff on the bottom, it's great!

[Suzanne F]

Do you know how early they open? Sounds like that's our next destination after an invigorating early morning walk. Or midday walk, maybe.

[Pan]

Their takeout menu doesn't list hours, but you could call them at 374-1327.

[Pan]

I went back to this place for dinner tonight.

Pig's heart casserole was delicious. It was sliced and cooked in a tasty brown sauce. I couldn't pick out all the ingredients in the sauce, but star anice was clearly one of them. It had a good deal of fresh ginger in it, plus some tasty green parts of scallions and whole cloves of roasted garlic. This casserole did not include rice and is intended to be eaten without rice.

I also had some flavorful broccoli di rabe ("Chinese broccoli") that was listed as stir fried, I think, but clearly was deep fried and briefly dunked in water, as per the usual Chinese restaurant technique. I found out from the guy sitting next to me that water spinach is also available, but only by request (I call it kangkung, but apparently, one must ask for I believe Ong Choy). I poured a little bit of hot sauce into my bowl and dipped pieces of the vegetable into it.

My service was very slow tonight, but the food was good.

Edited September 11, 2003 by Pan (log)

[Bux]

- the name is deceiving, as the signature dish are the rice casseroles cooked in sandy pots.  When you get to the crunchy stuff on the bottom, it's great!

Interesting, as Marco Polo Noodle shop on Baxter also serves rice casseroles that sound similar.

[weinoo]

Is it worth checking out (Marco Polo, that is)?

[Bux]

It's a simple place. I've tended to stick with the fresh home made (on an Italian pasta machine--hence the restaurant name?) noodles in soup. In truth, it's been a while since I've been there because of a few places closer to home that have opened in the past year or so. It used to be a favorite reliable lunch soup place for things like seafood noodle soup, pork and black mushroom noodle soup and the aforementioned noodles with Peking Sauce.

[weinoo]

On the subject of fresh noodles, does any place here in NY do hand-pulled (Chinese style) noodles...

[Suzanne F]

We ate at Yummy Noodles this morning -- I guess it was between 10:30 and 11 -- and it was indeed yummy.

We had congee with chicken and Chinese mushrooms, and roast duck noodle soup. Hey, it was breakfast! Although other people were getting the rice casseroles and other dishes, which looked great.

The congee started out medium thickness, and thinned as it sat. The porridge itself was very plain, as though just rice cooked in water, no broth. But: lots of slivered ginger and fairly thick slices of scallion, and a sprinkle of chopped cilantro on top. The chicken pieces were hacked up fairly small, with lots of bits of bone and integument, and they were absolutely delicious. I wish I know how the chicken had been cooked first -- really yummy. The Chinese mushrooms were good-sized slices of fresh shiitake. Because of the starting blandness, I added a little soy sauce -- there are 2 kinds on the table, Kikkoman and one beginning with a Y, a little milder and sweeter, which is the one I used. HWOE added a touch of chili sauce, which he said was not as good as the chili/garlic at Congee, but still a helpful addition.

The roast duck noodle soup suffered from not being hot enough. Otherwise, it was excellent: very well-flavored broth, not greasy, with lots of chew noodles, 10 (!) slices of duck, and some sort of light green leaves, plus sliced scallion garnish. The duck was one of the best we've had: very, very meaty, not very fatty, with a good hint of 5-spice flavor, a bit on the salty side.

Definitely a place to try more. Thanks, Pan, for bringing it to our attention.

[Pan]

Definitely a place to try more.  Thanks, Pan, for bringing it to our attention.

You're welcome, Suzanne.

What exactly is integument? Cartilege?

[Suzanne F]

Technically, it's "something that covers or encloses; esp: an enveloping layer (as a skin, membrane, or husk) of an organism or one of its parts." So the chicken-skin-haters would not be happy. But as you well know, when a bird is cut up in Chinese food, it's just simply cut up -- everything that it came with is still there. That's fine with us (esp. HWOE who LOVES cartilage).

[herbacidal]

The congee started out medium thickness, and thinned as it sat.

quick note here.

usually congee will thin the more you stir it.

if you reach your spoon to the bottom it will also thin more.

it's something i often do, unfortunately.

[weinoo]

Well, this place hasn't been posted about in a long time and maybe now I know why - after a late-ish dinner there last night. They've updated their menu (specialty is still the rice casseroles) with some "Americanized" Chinese foods - and are selling tee shirts, which is not always a great sign. The soups were ultra-salty (but the shrimp won-tons were delicious) and we waited a long time for our rice casserole - probably because after 20 minutes I reminded our waiter that we hadn't gotten it yet - whereupon he went into the kitchen and they then started cooking it! The 2 roasted meat plate had - get this - exactly two pieces of roast duck and a small portion of roast pork - $8.50.

But the kicker was this - for our party of three, they told me that a 15% tip was mandatory - didn't really see that written anywhere. Now, normally, I figure a tip at 20% of the bill before tax...then, I kind of make deductions (like when the food order is not placed and the bathroom smells like a sewer and they treat you like shit). So, I gave them like 12.5% and walked out - never to return. Talk about trying to take advantage of the customer!! I knew I should have gone to Noodletown .

[Pan]

It sucks that you had a lousy time at Yummy Noodles, but at least as far as their food is concerned, I found it quite acceptable tonight. I got the Pig's Heart Casserole again. It may indeed be significantly saltier; I think the sauce may have included Worchestershire Sauce, but I enjoyed the dish anyway. (Except for the absence of any noticeable star anise taste, it is otherwise as I described above.) Anyone thinking of ordering it should note that the heart is rather chewy, which is to a Chinese taste. Only at the end was a piece or two tender, after continuing to cook in the casserole while on the table. I also had Chinese Vegetables Noodle Soup, which was basically broth with bok choy and noodles -- not that interesting, but a good companion to the salty, gingery, garlicky casserole. Besides, when I added some hot oil to the broth, it improved greatly.

Service was such that I decided it wasn't worth it to do what would have been necessary to get a second cup of tea while still eating, but otherwise, it was OK, and the bill was $13 and change plus tip.