This new Peninsula restaurant options handmade noodles

Restaurants

Hand-drawn noodles and served with nutritious beef broth are the specialty at Ox 9, a brand new noodle store from Lanzhou to San Mateo.

The restaurant opened quietly final weekend at SB eleventh Avenue, on the sting of downtown San Mateo, close to Caltrain Station.

Ox 9 appears to be the primary restaurant on the peninsula and one of many few within the Bay Space devoted to this model of recent, hand-tossed noodles from northwest China. The identical homeowners function the Lanzhou Hand Pulled Noodles eating places additional south in Milpitas and Cupertino.

In Ox 9, the method of creating noodles is proven as an enchanting theatrical act. From behind a glass window, prospects can watch staff roll the dough into greasy cylinders after which skillfully stretch the noodles. Drop the noodles in boiling water to cook dinner for not more than 30 seconds. Employees need to spend not less than a decade studying methods to make noodles, mentioned proprietor Nina Qu, to grow to be intimately aware of the correct proportions, temperature and elements.

Prospects can customise noodle dishes with six shapes and widths: from smaller, ramen-like spherical noodles to thick flat noodles and pappardelle.

In probably the most traditional preparation, the marginally yellow noodles are available in a light-weight broth with skinny slices of veal as paper, a vibrant purple chili oil, inexperienced herbs and translucent daikon slices. The colours of the completely different elements (mild, white, purple, inexperienced and yellow) are the important flagships of a standard Lanzhou noodle soup. The broth, fragrant and engaging, is constructed for 20 hours from about 30 elements.

At Ox 9, the soup ($ 14.48) comes with a facet dish of bok choy and steamed carrots, in addition to containers of soy sauce, vinegar, and chili oil on the tables, for a personalised garnish.

Different soup iterations embrace lamb ($ 15.48) or pork chops ($ 14.98) as a substitute of veal. Or, recent noodles shine on their very own in broth-free dishes, dressed merely with chili oil or spicy floor pork (each $ 13.48).

Whereas noodle soups are the principle occasion, there are additionally loads of small dishes like spicy wontons, cucumbers with garlic and fried popcorn rooster.

The homeowners have lengthy needed to open in San Mateo. It is a food-focused metropolis with “many noodle lovers,” Qu mentioned, together with a big Asian inhabitants. Though this style of noodles is known in China, they hope to show extra American-style diners. The eating room is minimalist and trendy, the partitions are adorned with big illustrated posters that inform the story of the “legendary” noodles and the way they’re made. Diners ask for his or her telephones through a QR code, however the attentive servers convey water and reply questions concerning the noodle shapes.

Founder David Liu realized the artwork of handmade noodles in Lanzhou earlier than opening a retailer there in 2012. He needed to convey the specialty to Northern California and opened the primary handmade noodles in Lanzhou (then referred to as Zhongua) in Milpitas in 2017. They are saying it was the primary devoted restaurant of its type in Northern California. After they expanded to Cupertino in 2021, the kitchen was overwhelmed by lengthy traces of noodle followers, Qu mentioned.

Another Chinese language eating places within the Bay Space serve Lanzhou-style noodles, however this isn’t normally their solely specialty. One other Lanzhou handmade noodle restaurant, One Piece Lamian, opened in Fremont late final yr; the town of East Bay was additionally residence to the favored however now closed Shinry Lamian. In the meantime, William Do of the hit pop-up Laowai Noodles sells his flip to hand-drawn Sichuan noodles, however they’re laborious to return by with an extended ready checklist.

However 9.
11 a.m. to three p.m. and 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Wednesday by Monday. Calle S. B, 11, Sant Mateu. Indoor meals and takeaway. 39miles.com/z/09688759


Elena Kadvany is a author for the San Francisco Chronicle. Electronic mail: [email protected] Twitter: @ekadvany