Nobody has come up with an effective musical ode to noodles yet, but that won’t stop us from singing their praises. While we shared some our favorite Asian noodle dishes last year, our appetite remains insatiable. Luckily—with ramen’s continued rise, a new and reasonably priced pasta joint (as well as a new and less reasonably priced upscale Italian restaurant), plus plenty of places to explore in the ‘burbs—it seems like we have more options than ever to get our fix. Here’s where we go when we want a heaping of perfectly sauced or soup-ed noodles.
Photo via Daikaya’s Facebook page
DAIKAYA: If I have a complaint about the meticulously assembled ramen at Daikaya, it’s that I can’t get enough of it. The downstairs noodle bar has limited seating, and the long waits are a testament to the flavorful broth and the pleasantly toothsome noodles. In fact, noodles are such an integral part of the Daikaya experience that the kitchen sources them all the way from Japan. Luckily, supply will soon meet the city’s growing love for all things noodley: Daikaya has two new ventures in the works—Bantam King, a Chinatown spot specializing in chicken ramen and fried chicken, and Haikan, an 85-seat noodle bar inside the new Atlantic Plumbing Development. Get ready to slurp on, D.C. —Alicia Mazzara
Daikaya is located at 705 6th St NW.
NORTHWEST CHINESE FOOD: By now, everyone knows about the Shaanxi dishes at Panda Gourmet, which also caters to less adventurous tastebuds with excellent Szechuan fare. Well, this newcomer to a busy College Park strip dispenses with the usual Chinese take-out ltogether and offers only regional Shaanxi dishes—and they’re great. Their tasty rou jia mo burgers are more like Sloppy Joes than the variety served at Panda Gourmet, but the hot oil-seared noodles (“knife-cutted,” as the menu boasts) are a perfect blend of spicy flavor and fresh noodles.The menu is limited to burgers, skewers, a handful of appetizers, and those noodle dishes, but a bowl of their noodles is just what you need during this mid-winter freeze. —Pat Padua
Northwest Chinese Food is located at 7313-D Baltimore Ave., College Park, Md.
RED WHITE AND BASIL: This city has plenty of upscale, white-table cloth Italian restaurants. But sometimes all you want is some comforting, fresh pasta that doesn’t cost $25 a bowl—and that can be hard to find. Red, White and Basil aims to fill that need with it’s $16 fixed-price menu, which includes a small green salad, choice of pasta, and a dessert. There’s an abundance of noodle and sauce combinations to pick from, including a zesty arrabbiata and a rich, creamy mushroom sauce. Keep in mind that it will cost more for to add meat to the pasta or order appetizers like garlic bread or soup. Still, it’s a relatively solid value for a casual Italian meal in a lively atmosphere. —Travis Mitchell
Red White And Basil is located at 1781 Florida Ave, NW.
Photo by LaTur
MOMOFUKU CCDC: I didn’t think it was possible, but the restaurant hype machine rose to stratospheric new heights with the opening of Momofuku CCDC, David Chang’s first foray into the D.C. restaurant scene. While I don’t think any restaurant could ever live up to such extreme anticipation, those pork buns are pretty darn tasty. Aside from buns, the current menu is mostly focused on Chang’s signature noodle dishes, inspired by his time in Japan. The ramen and beef soup broths are mind-blowingly meaty—imagine drinking a steak or a pork chop and you get the idea. —Alicia Mazzara, from a previous list
Momofuku is located at 1090 I St NW.
PHO VIET: I’ve said it once, I’ll say it again: Anyone who tells you that there is better veggie pho to be found in the District than the heaping bowl at Pho Viet is a lying liar trying to make sure that they can still get a seat at this relatively small Columbia Heights spot. I’ve seen this place packed at 9 p.m. on a Wednesday in the middle of August, so you can imagine that things are rather busy nowadays. But no matter how many people are vying for a bowl, the quality of their pho—served with a healthy serving of noodles, always fresh veggies, and crunchy fried onions—never varies. Word has it that the mother of one of the owners will soon have her own restaurant to dish out non-pho Vietnamese fare. I couldn’t be more excited to find out what noodles lie in store there. — Rachel Sadon
Pho Viet is located at 3513 14th Street NW.
Photo via Panda Gourmet’s Facebook page
PANDA GOURMET: As a kid growing up in New York on the Upper West Side, and with a Jewish father to boot, I have a lot of memories that involve eating Chinese food. Despite this, Chinese noodles have never been a favorite of mine, as egg-yellow lo mein tends to be slick with oil, mei fun dry and sauceless, and chow fun overcooked and clumpy. This is not an issue at Panda Gourmet, which serves up authentic Sichuan- and Xian-style noodles. Noodles appear in a couple of places on the menu, but the best (in my experience) live on the appetizers page. Dan Dan noodles are tender and pale white, bathed in chili oil, and topped with dry bits of preserved pork. Cold sesame noodles do away with the thick peanut butter sauce that haunts similar offerings and instead offers a thinner, remarkably delicious sauce. Shaanxi-style noodles are tossed with a peppery vinegar sauce and cubes of spongy pita bread. It’s good, man. Really, really good. —Jacob Dean
Panda Gourmet is located at 2700 New York Ave NE.
SUSHI JIN NEXT DOOR: Head up Metro’s Red Line to find what just might be some of the area’s best ramen broth. While known for their phenomenal sushi, Sushi Jin Next Door in Silver Spring is home to some of the heartiest ramen broth around, which takes two days to create. Full disclosure, my pork-forbidding ways only allow me to indulge in their chicken-based broth; pork lovers can also enjoy their more savory chasu-based broths. While waiting for your ramen, you should also indulge in what is the best treatment of edamame I’ve encountered. Grilled in garlic, sesame and soy sauce and presented with a slight char … I’d host these beans in my mouth everyday if I could. Despite the restaurant’s size (it looks like a well-decorated hallway), I’ve never had to wait to be seated or endured a slow kitchen. —Hamzat Sani
Sushi Jin is located at 8555 Fenton St., Silver Spring, Md.
MASSERIA: Hidden among the warehouses near the Union Market, this pricey beauty of a restaurant reminded me of how destination is destiny in the food business: Hide it and they will come! Chef Nicolas Stefanelli has outdone himself with menus that capture his love of Italy’s slow cooking and local specialties. A tasting menu offers three and five courses that are generous and supplemented by an amuse bouche, a palate cleansing ice, and, after dessert, the tiniest chocolate cannoli and fruit gelees. In between is a mouth-watering pasta course that will have you dreaming of flights to Italy. Save it for a special occasion. —Johanna Mendelson Forman, from a previous list
Masseria is located at 1340 4th St NE.
Photo via Yona’s Facebook page
YONA: Those slurping sounds on the other side of the river are coming from Mike Isabella and Jonah Kim’s latest creation: a ramen house with ambitious dishes. The soups sing with combinations of porkbelly or crab meat mixed with flavorful broth. Try the Porky or the Ja-Jing, which also includes an egg, squid, and other delectable tidbits along with noodles. There are five signature ramen, each with a different spin. Average prices are on the high side ($15), but then this is designer ramen. Small plates of fusion foods that bring Korean and Japanese favorites to new levels are also worth exploring. Tuna Poke, a Hawaiian variation of sashimi, and the dry-fried wingsare especially tasty. Sake and wine-rined fried chicken is more like a sticky version of Bon Chon’s extraordinary fried bird, but still a good choice if you are hungering for crispy. But noodles are why you make the trip as ramen makes a play to compete with pho, once the gold standard for noodles and broth. —Johanna Mendelson Forman
Yona is located at 4000 Wilson Blvd., Arlington, Va.
CHINA BOY: There isn’t much to D.C.’s sad little Chinatown, but China Boy is a bright spot if you love rice noodles. This dingy hole-in-the-wall does most of it’s business making and supplying chewy, fat rice noodles to other area restaurants and markets. The limited menu consists of noodle stir fries (chow foon), noodle soups, and “rice crepes,”a rolled up noodle stuffed with meat or seafood and typically served at dim sum. Grab a generous portion of slightly greasy chow foon to go, dine in at one of the few tables, or take home a batch of plain noodles to cook at home. —Alicia Mazzara, from a previous list
China Boy is located at 815 6th Street NW.
Toki Underground’s vegetarian ramen. Photo by Andrea Adleman
TOKI UNDERGROUND: When you wait for hours to get into Toki Underground, the prize most often sought is the classic ramen. Newspaper critics, celebrity chefs, social media personalities, and neighborhood residents are among the devotees of the richly comforting, pork-centric soul soother. Elsewhere on the menu, the vegetarian ramen is the classic’s alter ego. It uses the same Taiwanese curly noodles, as well as similar seasonings in the mahogany broth, minus the pork stock. Hearty chunks of shiitake mushroom and housemade tofu yield a substantive vegan ramen. You also have the option to choose turf over surf. If you prefer not to fish for your ingredients in a brothy sea, you can order one of the special noodle bowls, non-soup creations that change seasonally. Pork noodles, vegetarian noodles, and fried chicken are the current specials. The two former are tsukemen dishes, using noodles dipped in ramen then removed from the liquid and served cold. Served warm, the fried chicken dan dan mien combines a generous quantity of soy-garlic-ginger fried chicken with an egg, pickles, and chili garlic paste on a bed of noodles. After feasting your eyes on the presentation, you should disrupt the artistry and toss everything together to blend the flavors. —Andrea Adleman
Toki Underground is located at 1234 H Street NE.
SAKURAMEN: Sakuramen lives and breathes well-executed ramen, with several styles of the noodle dish. Outside of the well-textured ramen noodle, the broth is layered with enough flavor profiles to satisfy any palette. A fan of volcanic spiced food, I ordered my Chosun with a signature spice bomb and then arrogantly asked them to make the broth an eight out of 10 on their spice radar (I might not have needed that spice bomb). Despite working up a decent sweat slurping away at my bowl, the richness of the broth, seasoned with some of the most melt-in-your-mouth ribeye was addictive. Be prepared for an anxious wait to be seated—for my partner and I, it was an hour plus. The waitstaff on this night was overwhelmed and apologetic, as the host did his best to herd an eager crowd. Also, ready yourself for cozy accommodations ,as the space has a communal vibe that can feel camp cafeteria cramped at times. But is it all worth it? Yes, yes and yes. Sakuramen can sock it to me anytime. —Hamzat Sani
Sakuramen is located at 2441 18th St. NW.
