Snowed by Xue Cai Rou Si Mian at Shandong Deluxe

I headed for 19th and Taraval at lunchtime today, fully intending to cheat on my new best hand-pulled noodle friend, Shandong Deluxe, with a dalliance at House of Pancakes (that's pancakes as in niu rou bing) which brazenly established itself a couple of weeks ago a mere block away from Shandong Deluxe. It was not to be, as House of Pancakes rudely greeted me with a "Closed on Wednesdays" sign.  So I headed for the outstretched noodle-pulling arms of Shanghai Deluxe once again, thanking my stars for having such a delectable Plan B at hand.

I settled on "Mustard Pork Noodle" on the menu, the classic xue cai rou si mian (雪菜肉丝面).  "Xue cai" is literally "snow vegetable" in Chinese, but refers to a leafy vegetable (typically mustard greens) that has been preserved through pickling or salting. This would not ordinarily be my automatic choice, since I'm not a fan of leafy greens, even pickled (they're all spinach to me), but I'm determined to work my way through Shanghai Deluxe's entire noodle menu.  Not only that, but it's a great dish for letting the noodles really show their stuff, with no chance of being overwhelmed by the bland pork shreds or the subtle vegetality of the broth. It turned out to be a wise choice.  Shandong Deluxe appeared to have sensed my intent at infidelity down the block and really put out. The noodles today were so perfectly bold and chewy that I ate them as fast as possible lest they lose that "QQ" quality before I could get to the bottom of the bowl. Yes, the broth was bland, but nothing a little chile oil couldn't fix.  I didn't resort to that, however, until I had dug out every last shard of wheaty loveliness.

Hear that, House of Pancakes? You'll get to wrap your lithe and limber noodles around my desire yet. Let's see if you can top Shandong Deluxe's snow job!

Where Slurped: Shandong Deluxe, 1042 Taraval Street, San Francisco

Ringing Up a New Noodle Experience With Xinjiang Ding Ding Chao Mian

After posting the video of noodle-pulling hijinks at M.Y. China this morning, I found myself craving some fresh handmade noodles and headed for -- not M.Y. China, but the more proletarian fare of Shandong Deluxe on Taraval Street. I had in my mind to try out a noodle dish rarely -- if ever -- seen in these parts, clumsily identified in English as "Fried Crushed Noodles" but more elegantly and musically rendered in Chinese as 新疆丁丁炒麵, Xinjiang Ding Ding Chao Mian. 

Xinjiang Ding Ding Chao Mian is like no other chao mian (or chow mein, if you will) out there. It consists of hand-pulled noodles "the thickness of chopsticks" according to this recipe I found online. The noodles are then chopped at approximate 1/4 inch intervals and stir-fried with lamb, tomato, garlic shoots, red and green peppers and celery, all chopped equally finely, in a ginger-garlic sauce. 

As with other noodle dishes at Shandong Deluxe, the Xinjiang Ding Ding Chao Mian is served in gargantuan proportions; the chopped up noodles also make eating it with chopsticks tedious, and I eventually resorted to use of a Chinese soup spoon to fill my gut (which was accomplished with about half my order). Overall, the Silk Route pedigree of this dish seemed to come into play here, as I felt I was eating a middle eastern or Mediterranean pasta dish more than a Chinese noodle dish. Tasty and satisfying as the dish was, I felt cheated by not getting the pleasure that comes from lifting and slurping long noodles.

One reason I wasn't able to finish my entire noodle dish (not to worry, I took home enough for a pasta "side" for my dinner) was that I had been sweet-talked by my server into trying an order of house-made xiao long bao.  At $4.95 for 6, it was easy to succumb to this temptation, and I felt rewarded by it  While not the most elegantly wrapped xiao long bao I have ever had, they were true to form in texture and flavor, a worthy xiao long bao "fix" (of which I am occasionally in need).

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the chef-owner of Shandong Deluxe spent some years cooking in Xinjiang,  whence his penchant for the Xianjiang dishes sprinkled across Shandong Deluxe's menu. They've grabbed my attention on account or their rarity, but I suspect further riches await me when I actually get to the Shandong specialties at Shandong Deluxe.

Where slurped: Shandong Deluxe, 1042 Taraval Street, San Francisco.

Noodle Madness at M.Y. China

Martin Yan's M.Y. China is the type of pricey, upscale venue that I normally eschew, but it's a friendly, fun place, as the video below suggests (not to mention being a half-hour closer by bus for me than any other hand-pulled noodle joint). The noodles, made to order for you, are excellent, and if you sit at the counter by the noodle station you get the same vantage point this video was shot from, so it's a dinner/lunch show worth the $12-$18 ticket price. Thanks to Alex Ong, Chef at Betelnut Peiju Wu for this video, recorded at M.Y. China and posted on Facebook. It features the noodle-pulling exploits of head chef Yong Dong "Tony" Wu, including "Gangnam style" and "10,000 strands blindfolded" as breathlessly narrated by Martin Yan.