Noodles, Noodles Everywhere

Last week was a big noodle fest for us, as we went to not one but two noodle houses, due to our "geographic availability". Last Thursday we went to the South Hills to have our taxes done. Now, I live and work in the North Hills, so to drive to South Park means a trip on Route 51 and some other fun roads. After driving down there to have our taxes done, I understand why Wesley Snipes was convicted of tax evasion. It's not that he didn't have the money...he just didn't want to drive all the way to his accountant.

So anyway...after our taxes, DB~ and I were going to go to dinner. She always raves about this place called Pho Kim 88 and their delicious Pad Thai. It's a combination pan-Asian type of place -- Thai, Japanese, and Chinese, with maybe some Korean too. It's in a non-descript little strip mall off of 88.

The place inside is nice enough. DB~ got her usual chicken Pad Thai and loved it. I tried it and the Pad Thai noodles were soft and filled with flavor. The chicken was large and chunky, but had a great flavor with the Thai basil throughout the dish.

I had pork bun which was pork served over some vermicelli noodles. My dish had some peanut flavoring throughout the dish, which is pretty common in Thai food. Overall, I did like the place and DB~ got to have the pad thai dish she loves so much.

Then just two days later when we went to the Teenie Harris exhibit in Oakland, we stopped before at LuLu's Noodles on Craig Street. I went with a wider street noodle this time with some shrimp dumplings on top. I loved the shrimp dumplings (and probably should have just gone with dumplings by themselves) but found the noodles bland. It was served with a clear onion broth that, I suppose, you were supposed to add to the noodles -- at least that's what I did.



DB~ had some type of noodle dish with chicken, but not pad thai, and again she had the better dish. This one had a hint of cilantro woven throughout the dish. It had a light brown sauce and some vegetables and sprouts.



LuLu's Noodles has the motto "Think Globally, Act Locally, Eat Noodles". Perhaps instead of having such a high-minded vision they should focus on adding a touch more flavor to all their dishes.