Gold Dig #38

Mian is a noodle house in the San Gabriel Valley (what I like to think of as LA’s real Chinatown). It is one of two restaurants by chef Tony Xu that makes Jonathan Gold’s 101 Best Restaurants list – the other is Chengdu Taste (check out my Chengdu Taste Gold Dig too).

It’s a fairly small place, with a nicer, more modern feel than many of the hole-in-the-wall Chinese restaurants in the area. But still with hole-in-the wall type prices! We got four dishes for less than $40.

The Dish

Mian is literally the Chinese word for “noodles”, so yeah, their handmade noodles are what the place is all about. They have a selection of Sichuan noodle dishes, a handful of dumpling options, and some appetizers. That about covers it, though their menu ends up being several pages because they include giant pictures of everything. As soon as you sit down, they give you a dish of fantastically crunchy pickled cabbage, and a cup labeled “soup” which is filled with a cool slightly sweet brown liquid they tell you is noodle water for drinking. They will refill the cabbage and drink as many times as you want.

Marinated Pork

We started with the Marinated Pork, which is slices of pig ears. It comes with a mound of chili flakes on the side. We weren’t sure whether or not we were supposed to stir them in, but we did and it was delicious.

Pork Dumpling

The pork dumplings come in a sweetened chile oil that is to die for. The ground pork filling is tasty, and the wrapper is delicate and does a great job of absorbing that amazing sweet chile oil. This actually turned out to be my favorite dish – I could have eaten three or four bowls just of these.

House Beef Noodles

Jonathan Gold said the beef noodle soup is excellent, so we got it. The beef is super tender, the noodles have good chew, the greens add nice flavor and crunch, and the broth is rich and spicy. Mian’s placemats have handy tips for how to eat their food, including a warning that the broth might be too spicy to drink. But we tried it and quite enjoyed slurping down the spicy soup.

Zajiang Noodles with Peas

The Zajiang Noodles are the thing people come here for – wheat noodles with minced pork cooked in fermented soybean paste. Their Zajiang Noodles also come topped with greens and a fried egg. We chose the version that includes Chongqing peas, which add a nice texture – their Chengdu Zajiang Noodles are exactly the same, only without the peas. The Zajiang Noodles have that fantastic Sichuan peppercorn tang, but without overwhelming like some of the dishes at Chengdu Taste can tend to. I did wish that the fried egg had a runny yolk, but it was cooked hard. In case you haven’t eaten zajiang mian before, never fear… their aforementioned handy-dandy placemats tell you exactly what to do, including snapping a pic before you thoroughly stir and then enjoy your noodles – adorable!

Bonus: By now you might have figured out that I like to have dessert after every meal (yes, even breakfast!), but you’ve probably also heard my disapproving rant about Asian desserts. Now if you’ve driven all the way out to the San Gabriel Valley, you’ll have noticed you’re fairly well surrounded by Chinese restaurants. Not to worry, I’ve got you. It just so happens that way out in Alhambra is Fosselman’s, a charming ice cream shop that has been there serving darn good ice cream for almost 100 years! A great way to fill in the cracks after Chinese food. Last time I was there I got their Coffee and Cookies flavor, which is like cookies and cream, only with coffee ice cream – yum!