Gastrolust

Dish: Phad Lao
Place: Viengthong, Mount Baker
Price: $8.00
On the plate: From the menu: “stir-fried rice noodles with bean sprouts, phad Lao sauce, topped with green onions and parsley.” You get your choice of chicken, pork, or beef with this dish, which also comes with thin strips of fried egg.

Supporting cast: Nothing, unless you [...]

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Dish: Tonkatsu Ramen
Place: Yoe’s Noodles, Bellevue
Price: $7.80
In the bowl: Ramen noodles, half of a hard-boiled egg, corn, thinly sliced green onion, mushrooms, and bean sprouts in tonkotsu broth.
Supporting cast: A plate with sliced tonkatsu, a lemon wedge, and some tonkatsu sauce with karashi (spicy mustard).

What to do: Try to eat the noodles quickly so that [...]

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Dish: Drunken Beef Noodles
Place: Indochine Asian Dining Lounge, Tacoma (on Pacific Ave.)
Price: $13.95
On the plate: From the menu: “Tender marinated beef, rice noodles, bamboo shoots, onions, and bell peppers are sautéed with Thai basil and dressed in sweet soy sauce and rice wine.” From the photo, you can see that there’s also [...]

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Dish: Job chae
Place: Kimchi Bistro, Capitol Hill
Price: $10.00
On the plate: Per the menu: “stir-fried potato noodles w/assorted veg and beef.”
Supporting cast: Banchan (including cabbage kimchi, bean sprouts, and daikon) and a small portion of rice.

What to do: Dig in, eating the banchan between bites of the job chae.
Noodling around: I love to cook jobchae (or [...]

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Dish: Guay tiow nua nom tok
Place: Spice Room, Columbia City
Price: $11.00
In the bowl: Per the menu: “rice noodles & rare beef in spicy rich broth,” but that’s not the end of the story.

Supporting cast: A tray with chili flakes, chili oil, and whole chilis.
What to do: You can order this at heat level 0-4, and [...]

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Dish: Kimchi Ramen
Place: Revel, Fremont
Price: $14.00
In the bowl: Kimchi (of course), pork belly, egg, green onions, nori strips, and ramen noodles.
Supporting cast: Nothing.
What to do: Admire the bowl before you. Smell, noting the slightly pungent odor of the kimchi. Then dive in.
Noodling around: I’m a ramen snob, sampling all over Tokyo when I can, even [...]

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Dish: Ramen (chosen with chicken)
Place: Okinawa Teriyaki, Downtown
Price: $6.99
In the bowl: Ramen noodles and broth. (So far, so good, sort of. And then it gets weird.) Chicken. Strands of egg. And lots of vegetables: Mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, cabbage, and zucchini.

Supporting cast: Nothing.
What to do: Wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into. Eat.
Noodling around: There [...]

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Dish: Special Saimin
Place: Spring Hill, West Seattle
Price: $12.00
In the bowl: Per the menu: “smoked pork belly, six-minute egg, pork & ham broth, fish cake, scallion”–and also gai choy (pickled mustard greens) and nori (dried seaweed sheets).
Supporting cast: A small bowl of spicy chili oil.
What to do: To add or not to add chili [...]

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Dish: Asparagus Beef Noodles
Place: Wanna Noodle, Queen Anne
Price: $9.50
In the bowl: Per the menu: “5 pepper black bean sauce, asparagus, mushrooms, red peppers, egg noodles.” Also: onions and green onions.
Supporting cast: Nothing.
What to do: Dive right in.

Noodling around: First off, there are friendly folks working the counter at Wanna Noodle, wearing orange shirts (to [...]

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Dish: Gyatak Noodle Soup
Place: Annapurna Cafe, Capitol Hill
Price: $9.95
In the bowl: Egg noodles, a few pieces of lamb, onions, scallions (advertised, but not to be found), tomato, fried egg–and a piece of broccoli.
Supporting cast: Nothing. But you should get an order of naan. (See below.)
What to do: Eat away.
Noodling around: Annapurna Cafe bills [...]

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