Freshly made pasta and noodles elevate any dish, and Chinese hand-pulled noodles is no exception. After I learned about LAN Noodle, a noodle specialist featuring Lanzhou hand-pulled noodle soups, I invited a friend to join me. LAN Noodle opened its original location in Arcadia in 2019 and recently opened in West Hollywood.
Ester Yuan, owner of LAN Noodle, set up shop in the West Hollywood Gateway complex anchored by Target and Best Buy. Because it’s a large outdoor shopping mall, you would expect to find a Chinese fast food restaurant like Panda Express, not a restaurant featuring a Chinese regional specialty.
The interior is modern and has a counter that gives a fast-casual appearance, and I was surprised they have servers. If you’re curious, you can peer over the short partition and watch as the noodles are made to order.
In the Lanzhou style, the dough is worked aggressively. It is then pulled in straight with quick tugs. Making a loop with the dough and stretching, the pull doubles the length of the dough while fractioning its thickness. This process is repeated several times until the desired thickness and quantity is achieved.
LAN Noodle provides quite a few cold vegetarian and meat appetizers. The Smashed Cucumber ($4.99) was crunchy and refreshing but not up to the level of Din Tai Fung. I looked forward to Pig Ear in chili oil ($10.99) but was disappointed that it was augmented with slivered red onion.
Noodle soups are their signature items, and the clear soup broth is simmered for 10 hours using beef bones with 25 spices and herbs such as white pepper, star anise, black cardamom, and cloves. You can select the desired thickness of noodles, from angel hair thin to wide, flat noodles similar in shape to pappardelle.
I debated selecting the Mustard Green Beef Noodle Soup as the bitter green would blend well with the beef broth and went with their signature Lan Noodle ($15.99) with sliced beef, beef chunks, daikon radish, cilantro, and garlic greens. The broth was light and flavorful, and the noodles were fresh, springy, and chewy. Add-ons like mustard greens, tea egg, and bok choy are available.
Dry noodle dishes, such as Zha Jiang Mian and Dan Dan Noodles, are suitable for sharing. Add-ons like mustard greens, daikon, tofu, tea egg, and bok choy are also available for the dry noodle offerings. You can also specify the desired thickness of noodles for the dry noodle dishes, but I recommend flat, wide noodles for Dan Dan because the ground pork sauce nicely adheres to them.
Dumplings are another easily shareable item, such as Xiao Long Bao, made famous by Din Tai Fung. Traditional pan-fried dumplings include pork, chicken, or veggie. The bigger surprise was seeing “Chinese Burgers” (most are $7.99) made with housemade baked buns with a choice of veggie or protein.
The fresh, chewy noodles in the flavorful broth is their main draw, and they execute them well. The menu also appeals to this non-Asian community since it includes Chinese mainstay items like chow mein and dumplings.
Diners can park for one hour in the massive downstairs parking structure for free. Hours are from 11:30 a.m. until 9:30 p.m. daily.
LAN Noodle, 7100 Santa Monica Bl #130, West Hollywood; lannoodle.com