Revisits – Spicy Noodle and 777 Noodle House

I don't know if it's old age or what, but for some reason it just seems colder this year? Well, at least it's good weather to get  some noodles and noodle soup. Here are a couple of revisits for ya'.

777 Noodle House:

I was actually trying to head to Ly Heng, since it had been a while since my last visit. However, there's some crazy road work happening on University between 44th and 46th. They seem to be putting in roundabouts in the street. Anyway, there was just no parking to be had, so I headed further down University for my next choice, Tu Thanh, but again no parking near the restaurant, even on side street 3-4 blocks away. Which left me with one choice….

Well, I wasn't too sure about this since my previous visit was not very good. Still, I've been coming here since 2010 and the same folks are still working the front of house and all, so why not give it another shot, right?

There was only one table occupied when I arrived. I was waved to a two top and handed a menu, though I knew what I was going to order.

The Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho of course, which is now $11.97, kind of cheap for these days, but I still remember it was $4.77 when I first visited back in 2010!

It looked like the same ol', same ol'.

    But, any doubts were soon dispelled when I started mixing things and eating. The shrimp was decently plump with no off flavors. There was more ground pork than on my previous visit. Of course the sliced pork is chewy and quite rustic, but it flavor. There was still only a single lonely fishball in the bowl.

The hu tieu was decently al dente and well coated with the savory-sweet-salty sauce.

   The pork hock has gotten smaller over the years, but the meat on this one was more tender than on my previous visit and the soup, while still heavy on the msg, had a bit more flavor and a dose of white pepper.

The bean sprouts were nicely blanched and still had a bit of a crunch to them.

While I did mention to my friend "CY" that I never thought I'd see the day when I'd consider a $12 bowl of noodle soup to be inexpensive, that's how things are these days. I'm just glad that my Hu Tieu Nam Vang Kho was satisfying on this chilly day. I'd been here so many times and would you believe this is my 29th post on the place?

777 Noodle House
4686 University Avenue
San Diego, CA 92105 

Spicy Noodle: 

From a place that I've done nearly 30 posts on to one that I've only done one previous post on in March of last year, Spicy Noodle. I was looking for a fairly early lunch and I recalled that Spicy Noodle opens at 1030, so I headed on over.

And yes, they were open.

I had a seat and placed my order via the QR code. The nice woman brought me a pitcher of water. 

There was one item I enjoyed during my previous visits, the Fat Intestine Noodle which is still priced at $15. I was shocked that my bowl arrived in less than 10 minutes after I placed my order.     But a quick bite of the "fatty" intestine assuaged my doubts. It was tender and full of "bungy" goodness. Don't stare at the intestines too long; you might start seeing things…. Nice mild funky-savory tones.

The broth doesn't strike me a being too spicy; there's a bit of ma-la going, on this visit it was decently rich, if a bit on the salty side of the tracks.

The noodles were nice and stretchy-chewy, it was a good vehicle for picking up the soup.

Overall a decent visit; I do wish the soup had a bit more "kick", but did fine on a cold morning. The folks working were very nice. While there seemed to be several takeout orders, I was the only person dining in during my entire visit. I'm hoping they do ok.

Spicy Noodle
8046 Clairemont Mesa Blvd.
San Diego, CA 92111