The Best Niu Rou Mian in the Bay Area*

I found myself in San Jose today so I tried ASJ, a noodle place next to a 99 Ranch Market. According to this blogger, this place has the best niu rou mian (beef noodle soup) in the Bay Area.

Calling anything the "best" is always dicey, especially with something as subjective as niu rou mian. Here are my impressions.

The place was very clean and the staff was efficient. The niu rou mian arrived quickly after I ordered it. I opted for the thin noodle version, as it was more popular with the patrons. My first taste was the soup. Wow, that's spicy. I immediately asked my waitress for a can of Coke. After the initial surprise, the rest was relative bliss. There's a lot of chili oil on top of the soup's surface, kinda like Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez incident. The slices of beef were of high quality and flavorful, but tasted like they'd been kept in the fridge (after cooking) for a few hours too long. The noodles were good, although there was too much of it (noodle to soup ratio-wise).

Overall, it was probably the best niu rou mian currently available. But something was missing. I'm not convinced that this is the best that the Bay Area has to offer. I remember fondly the niu rou mian of Shanghai Restaurant next to the El Cerrito 99 Ranch market, which closed a couple of years ago. Its version was much more to my liking. More varied cuts of beef were used. The noodles were thicker, more robust, and had a flavor of their own. The soup base stood on its own, but was not overpowering.

I am glad I took Tan's advice. I will go to numbers 2 through 5 of his list of the best NRM places and report back.

CKY