Lanzhou Handmade Noodles

Occasion: A second Flushing excursion with Yining, Kathy and Kathy's mom
Location: basement food court in the Golden Mall, 41-28 Main St at 41st Rd in Flushing
Edibles: beef broth noodles (one with the thick noodles, one with the hand-pulled thin noodles)

Musings: By "food court," I don't mean like the ones in your average mall, with a Burger King, Panda Express, Sbarro, etc. By "food court," I mean a collection of little dingy family-owned stalls like you'd find in populous Asian cities. Even I felt the compulsion to slather hand sanitizer on every surface. So don't say I didn't warn you. It's worth a trip, though, and it's loads cheaper than airfare to Taipei.

The noodles have so much texture and character.... al dente doesn't begin to describe it. They have a resilience and a fresh doughiness that dried, frozen or even refrigerated pastas can't hope to match. It's fun to order a couple different kinds of noodles and broths to share, even though the noodles themselves are REALLY long and hard to portion out. (You may need to use both hands to clamp the chopsticks tightly enough to break the noodles. And watch out for the recoil.)

There's a little plastic container of suan cai (Chinese sauerkraut) on the table. I mixed two heaping spoonfuls into my noodles - it's my favorite part of this dish - but you probably want to start with a light scattering.

The broth could use some work. Unlike the care they take with the broth in Japanese-style noodle shops, I got the feeling this one involved a handful of bouillon cubes thrown into a pot of boiling water. But for $4.50, they're forgiven.