Monday, June 27, 2011

The Boiling Noodle - Westminster

As far as I know, The Boiling Noodle is not affiliated in any way to The Boiling Crab. Even if there was a connection, familial, aspirational, or otherwise, the only thing The Boiling Noodle has in common with the Cajun Vietnamese crawfish restaurant is the font it chose for the sign.

The Boiling Noodle, as you may have deduced, peddles noodles, rice, and more noodles and rice. They don't do pho, but as with pho shops in Little Saigon, expect to be served quickly but not warmly. It reminds me most of Mi La Cay. Except it's not like Mi La Cay. This is a cheap noodle joint that doesn't look cheap. Not in the least. The solid wood chairs are heavy, expensive-looking, and embellished by marble. The tables are actually made of polished stone.

So far, within weeks of its opening, everything sparkles and gleams. You'd expect them to host lavish wedding banquets with room for a dance floor and maybe a dancing lion.

But the reason people come is the reason I did: for the $2.95 bowl of wonton noodle soup. It's on special for the grand opening. Since the price is also printed on the laminated menu, it'll probably stay $2.95 for some time to come.

The noodle crinkles, has good bounce, and is stretched as thin as an egg noodle can be stretched without disappearing. In the bowl beneath, micro-cubes of pork cracklings float in a clear, golden broth that nourishes like amniotic fluid. This is the same soup that most mi joints in Little Saigon serves, almost genetically identical down to the molecule. Sugary, umami-rich, and salty, it's like the concentrated essence of bird and hog. I could drink nothing but this soup and survive an Alaskan winter.

The wontons, however, were merely decent. These aren't the fat, bulging, bursting globes that would fill the mouth with pork and shrimp you will find everywhere in SGV; but rather just a thimble-sized pocket of meat, the kind I'd serve my customers if I were charging $2.95.

The Boiling Noodle
9081 Bolsa Ave., Ste. 105-106
Westminster, CA 92683

THIS WEEK ON OC WEEKLY:
Summer Issue - A Treatise on Icy Treats

7 Comments:

At 8:48 PM, Blogger Diamond Dog said...

Nice Find!!!!! And I appreciate not only notification of this place, but an actual review of the food. I wonder if some of the other items are any good? I will try this place

Diamond Dog - Censored By The OC Weekly

 
At 8:53 AM, Blogger Diamond Dog said...

I went to this place at 8:45 pm last night. The yelp page says they are open until 10 pm and their sign says 11 pm. They were moping up and said that they were no longer serving. I said "really?" They said "We are closed, but try us again!" I said "nah, I will just write about my experience on the internet"

I am not exaggerating, but as I was leaving, 4 people came in who were all turned away.

Brand new restaurant turning away business?! Good luck with that.

We ended up going to their competitor Luck Dinh Ky on Bolsa/Brookhurst and paying double for what we were going to pay at the Boiling Noodle. It was really good and one of our diners got the "grilled rice" which is similar to the crusty Persian Rice that Elmo likes. It was really good

Diamond Dog - Censored by the OC Weekly

 
At 7:56 AM, Blogger briannie said...

I went with my mom last night (we're Asian-- we love a good deal!), and ordered the $2.95 wonton soup & salted fish fried rice (for $5.95 I think?). The broth was bland, the 4 wontons were measly (matched your description), and the noodles were limited and too thin for my taste. The salted fried rice was OK, an average portion size, but not much salted fish at all. I was a little surprised by the lack of salted fish, but for 6 bucks, I guess I shouldn't complain.

Saw someone else ordering mi xao don which actually looked good. Prices were very reasonable; but I wasn't impressed with the two dishes I got. I would've preferred to have gone to Mi La Cay and paid twice as much for a better bowl of mi.

 
At 11:43 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Tried it today based on this post. Not bad, not great. You get what you pay for.

 
At 8:17 AM, Blogger elmomonster said...

All,

Well, it seems that Anonymous took the words right out of my mouth. He said it best and succinctly.

 
At 9:33 AM, Blogger Christine D. said...

Lol, my dad emailed me with a link to your review! Nice.

Wish I had known about this place. I came for a visit last weekend! Would've been nice to have an inexpensive bowl of mi!

 
At 11:42 AM, Blogger elmomonster said...

Christine,

Funny that your dad forwarded you the link to this. Hope he had some! It is cheap and it is as good as it is cheap!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home