I figured I’d start off with a fairly simple dish, something that just about everyone can appreciate (or learn to appreciate), and which comes in a whole slew of variations, to suit almost all tastes.
This is one of my all-time favorite comfort foods. It’s a delicious bowl of soup noodles: a rich, sometimes spicy, beefy broth with chewy noodles, studded with tender chunks of stewed beef.
Ideally, that is.
Unfortunately, with a lot of different kinds of ethnic cuisines, oftentimes, there is a huge sliding scale for a single dish. It can range from bland but salty to an incredibly savory food that hits the spot on a blustery day.
Every component of beef noodle soup (or, as you’ll often see it shortened, NRM), can vary wildly. I’ve seen soup that’s just a simple beef broth all the way to something way more complex with flavors that meld to create a liquid you can’t help but slurp up. The noodles, too, can be anything from simple dried noodles, to ones hand-pulled from fresh dough (which results in a chewier, denser bite), to knife-cut, which is the most toothsome of noodles: a slab of dough that slices are shaved from and dropped into boiling water to cook. It’s similar to the dumplings in chicken and dumplings, which are dropped in as raw dough and cook in the sauce.
If you’re curious about all these different styles, here are some pictures from restaurants in my area. You’ll see what I mean about the variety that’s out there.
Bamboodles
535 W. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, CA 91776
Found out about this place from Wandering Chopsticks, who’s a fan and has her own post about them. Their Spicy Beef Stew Noodles are good–a tasty, spicy broth that’s flavorful and yet light. You can see the chili oil floating on top of the beef broth, turning everything a fiery orange.
The noodles are light and chewy–kneading in a unique manner, using a large bamboo pole, gives them that consistency–and fairly thin, as you can see here.
Malan Noodles
2020 S. Hacienda Blvd., Hacienda Heights, CA 91745
These are also made by hand, pulled when you order into one long noodle (OK, maybe two) and immersed into a simple beef broth with daikon radish and some chopped garlic leeks.
JTYH Restaurant
9425 Valley Blvd., Rosemead, CA 91770
This place is well-known for its knife-cut noodles, slippery, eel-like slivers of dough that swim through a really good beef broth. It’s not spicy at all, but the flavor of the soup, as well as the tenderness of the beef (and tendon, in the bowl below), garnished with cilantro sprigs and spinach wilted by the heat of the soup, add up to one of the better bowls of NRM I’ve had outside the home.
The noodles are great for those who love their carbs–chewy and dense, with ruffled edges. No two are exactly alike.
Finally, this wouldn’t be a post on beef noodle soup if I didn’t include my mother’s version, with a broth so spicy it makes you sweat when you eat it. I always include cilantro, green onions, some chopped garlic, and sesame oil when making a bowl. You can see the color of the soup is a dark orange. That’s a satisfying bowl of NRM!
Beef noodle soup is usually found on the menus of noodle and dumpling houses, as well as Taiwanese eateries. Go out and see what your neighborhood restaurants have to offer.
