So not a single Corean place (neng myun, kal gooksu, chachangmyun, yukejang, sulangtang)? That's jacked up yo.
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The Mein Event: OC's Best Noodles
Noodles, noodles everywhere, from pho to pad Thai and everything else
CHICKEN PHO
If beef pho is the Albert Pujols of Vietnamese soups, then chicken pho is the Mike Trout: the unheralded, better prospect. At Pho Dakao, cluckers are king (or queen, as it were)—it offers eight types of chicken pho, from some containing giblets, tripe and other offal to straightforward chicken soup that Red Staters would slurp up if they didn't know it came from the hands of a Vietnamese. The noodles become as fluffy and slurpable as the Campbell's of your youth. Best of all? The chickens come from a sister poultry store, meaning what you just ate was probably clucking that very morning. 15532 Ward St., Garden Grove, (714) 531-2009.
HU TIEU COMBINATION NO. 1
Do not be alarmed. That piece of fried chicken is supposed to be in your bowl of noodle soup. Pho Crystal Noodle House will drop the hunk of crisply fried poultry in the liquid, a place the Colonel has never gone before. It will get tangled in the still-chewy strands of noodle and soak in the sweet, sugary broth that tastes distinctly of pig. It will be joined by char siu, steamed shrimp and a frilly leaf of slowly wilting lettuce. Some lemon squeezed into the bowl will round off the sweetness and have the bubbles of fat go skittering off. Go ahead and pluck out the chicken, then gnaw the meat from the bone. Lick your fingers if you have to—isn't that the point of fried chicken? 3037 S. Bristol St., Santa Ana, (714) 668-1312.
LP Hastings
Pad Thai at Thai Nakorn
LP Hastings
Garlic Noodles at the Yard House
Location Info
Map
Quan Hy Restaurant
9727 Bolsa Ave.
Westminster, CA 92683
Category: Restaurant > Asian
Region: Westminster
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Dx Peruvian Restaurant
3930 Bristol St.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Category: Restaurant > Latin American
Region: Santa Ana
Midan Al Tahrir
1324 S. Magnolia Ave.
Anaheim, CA 92804
Category: Restaurant > Middle Eastern
Region: Anaheim
Katella Deli
4470 Katella Ave.
Rossmoor, CA 90720
Category: Restaurant > Breakfast
Region: Los Alamitos
Dat Thành
10032 McFadden Ave.
Westminster, CA 92683
Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese
Region: Westminster
Rufino’s Ristorante Italiano
938 S. Euclid St.
Anaheim, CA 92802
Category: Restaurant > Italian
Region: Anaheim
Franco's Pasta Cucina
2222 Michelson Drive
Irvine, CA 92612
Category: Restaurant > Italian
Region: Irvine
Chong Qing Mei Wei Szechwan Restaurant
5406 Walnut Ave.
Irvine, CA 92604
Category: Restaurant > Chinese
Region: Irvine
Jollibee and Red Ribbon Bakery
601 N. Euclid St., Ste. A
Anaheim, CA 92801
Category: Restaurant > Fast Food
Region: Anaheim
Pho Thanh Lich
14500 Brookhurst St.
Westminster, CA 92683
Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese
Region: Westminster
Fukada Restaurant
8683 Irvine Center Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
Category: Restaurant > Asian
Region: Irvine
Cucina Alessa
520 Main St.
Huntington Beach, CA 92648
Category: Restaurant > Italian
Region: Huntington Beach
Cucina Alessa Restaurant
234 Forest Ave.
Laguna Beach, CA 92651
Category: Restaurant > Italian
Region: Huntington Beach
Cucina Alessa
6700 W. Coast Highway
Newport Beach, CA 92663
Category: Restaurant > Italian
Region: Newport Beach
Thai Nakorn
12532 Garden Grove Blvd.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Category: Restaurant > Asian
Region: Garden Grove
Vientiane Thai Laos
10262 Westminster Ave.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Category: Restaurant > Thai
Region: Garden Grove
Vien Dong
14271 Brookhurst St.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese
Region: Garden Grove
O-udon
17879 Newhope St.
Fountain Valley, CA 92708
Category: Restaurant > Japanese
Region: Fountain Valley
Warung Pojok
13113 Harbor Blvd.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Category: Restaurant > Asian
Region: Garden Grove
Pho Dakao
15532 Ward St.
Garden Grove, CA 92843
Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese
Region: Garden Grove
Pho Crystal Noodle House
3037 S. Bristol St.
Santa Ana, CA 92704
Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese
Region: Santa Ana
Quan Hop Restaurant
15640 Brookhurst St.
Westminster, CA 92683
Category: Restaurant > Vietnamese
Region: Westminster
Mas' Chinese Islamic Restaurant
601 E. Orangethorpe Ave.
Anaheim, CA 92801
Category: Restaurant > Chinese
Region: Anaheim
Related Content
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CHAO CHOW RICE NOODLE
Bowls of Trieu Chau's Chao Chow Rice Noodles aren't for the faint of heart. A close sibling of pho, but really more Chiu Chow Chinese than Vietnamese, this is a noodle soup's noodle soup. You'll find hulking, inelegant chunks of liver and cleaver-hacked pieces of roasted duck. As such, spitting out bone fragments isn't frowned upon, but rather expected. The best part is the gelatinous flaps of duck skin, one component in a protein-laden bowl chock-full of shrimp, meat balls, fish cake and a lean hunk of pork. But as with all soups such as this, it's all about the broth, here a marvelously hot, glorious, mouth-filling nectar wrung from the soul of bird, hog and probably MSG. 4401 W. First St., Santa Ana, (714) 775-1536.
BÚN RIEU
If pho is masculine, with beef balls and a musky broth wrung from ox bones, bún rieu is elegant and feminine, with its powder room at Quan Hop. Unlike pho noodles, the bún in bún rieu caresses the tongue in feathery wisps. You don't chew bún; you allow it to melt. The delicate, clear soup is rimmed with a chile-red rouge resembling a courtesan's lips and contains floating cubes of congealed blood cake. Figure-eight patties made of minced shrimp are as pink as naked skin. Search for the sea snail nubs, which chew softly with a thrilling finish. The loosely packed crab meatballs disintegrate in your mouth gentler than a lady's kiss. Also in the bowl will be a set of boiled tomatoes—supple, plump and perky. Do you get where we're going with this metaphor? 15640 Brookhurst St., Westminster, (714) 689-0555.
TONKOTSU RAMEN (AGAIN!)
Ramen Yamadaya's tonkotsu ramen is pure hog concentrate, culled from pig bones simmered for 20 hours to unlock all the collagen as well as all of its piggy potential. The end product is a soup closer to motor oil than broth. If the noodles, egg and slices of roasted pork weren't there, the liquid alone would still constitute a heart-stopping meal. Splatter from it will leave oil stains on your shirt. Get the kotteri, and you'll see a floating stratum of fat purposefully ladled on top as if it were liquid frosting. A red-spicy version of the broth spoons up as though it were thick Malaysian laksa, since it's so hearty. If there's a ramen soup so substantial it renders the noodles inconsequential, it's this one. 1175 Baker St., Costa Mesa, (714) 556-0091; www.ramen-yamadaya.com.
UNI SPAGHETTI
Uni is one of earth's greatest taste treasures. Crack open the Sputnik-like sea creatures, and you find one of the most naturally delicious ready-to-eat things the ocean produces. It has a sweetness akin to the richest egg yolk and a texture that is texture-less. At sushi bars, it's cuffed around a belt of nori or laid down on a ball of rice; but at Cafe Hiro, it's dissolved into sauce to coat strands of al dente spaghetti, creating a dish similar to those served on the Italian coast of Puglia. Since chef Hiro Ohiwa is a fusionist, he adds a crowning dollop of wasabi, a few wispy shreds of nori and some bread with which wipe up every precious, ocean-flavored drop. 10509 Valley View St., Cypress, (714) 527-6090; www.cafehiro.com.
MAMI
You'll never see a noodle soup broth more evocative of chocolate milk than in the bowls of mami at Mami King. The brownness comes from the slow-braised hunks of beef, which are not unlike the tender chunks of Taiwanese niu rou miàn, except here, they're so sweet it's as though they were lacquered in caramel. The sugary bent of the braised meat bleeds into a broth poured on hot as though it was the moat of hell. This is a soup so scalding it overcooks the thin egg noodle. Below the liquid depths and strands of starch, you'll uncover even more of that tender beef in never-ending quantities along with shredded white-meat chicken and a few pork-stuffed wontons that prove this Filipino noodle soup, as with others on this list, is Chinese in origin but eminently customizable—the ultimate immigrant. 6901 La Palma Ave., Buena Park, (714) 521-0108.
This article appeared in print as "The Mein Event: Noodles, noodles everywhere: OC's finest, from spaghetti to ramen, from pho to spätzle!"
8 comments
Interesting, there are fideos Chinos, fideos de Vietnam, fideos Japoneses, fideos Filipinos, fideos Alemanes, fideos Italianos, and so on but no Mexican Fideos, considering we are in SoCal it is shocking, what is even worse I did a search on google and yelp, from LA to San Diego, with only a handful of places showing up online, Gustavo there must be places that sells Fideuà Mejicana (Sopa Seca) otherwise it should put it on the socal endangered dishes list, plenty of places selling fideos in San Antonio though, please tell us Gustavo!
@mhschepers I can count the number of places in Southern California selling actual cuina catalana on one finger: the annual picnic of the Casal dels Catalans, usually in May near Cal State Dominguez Hills. Paella, amanida, pà i postre.
Why don't you open a real Catalan restaurant? Introduce Southern California to the wonders of arròs nègre, fideuà, esqueixadas, olladas, escudella, suquet de peix ... I'd pay a lot of money for a real calçotada.
@mhschepers There used to be one place in SanTana that sold great fideo, but it's gone! Sounds like an Ask a Mexican question to me!!!
Well, there ya go, lifelong So. Cal. resident and here's a Mexican-style dish I'm not familiar with. I'd love to have the opportunity to give it a taste.
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