Love and the Szechuan Noodle Bowl

Once upon a time, we had a nice boyfriend with whom we discovered Szechuan Noodle Bowl, a veritable gem in the International District. We ate noodles, we held hands, we gazed into each others’ eyes. But somewhere along the line, it seemed that not all of the times were as good as those we spent at the Noodle Bowl and sadly, we were...let go. Now, getting dumped was painful, but giving up Szechuan Noodle Bowl would have been insupportable. We resolved to go at once with our friends and family and rid the Noodle Bowl of its aura of failed romance.

Located on eighth just beyond House of Hong, Szechuan Noodle Bowl inhabits an underwhelming space with bright florescent lighting, awkward tables and large photographs of plastic toy horses in natural settings. (One such horse is stationed on a sandy beach, about to duel with a miniature crab.) The art is oddly fascinating, but generally speaking, we don’t go for the atmosphere. The food, however, is both terrific and terrifically cheap.

The Noodle Bowl offers many wonderful dishes, but it must be admitted that they suffer from some inconsistency. Depending on what you order, you could have an exceptional meal or a mediocre one, so we’ll take the liberty of offering some advice: focus your energies on these three categories: dumplings, noodles and the scallion pancake.

If you visit Szechuan Noodle Bowl in the afternoon to early evening, you’ll see the dumplings being made by an older woman who sets up at one of dining tables and works at tortoise-like speed. The sight of her rolling out each piece of dough and individually filling each dumpling will inevitably induce you to order some, so we won’t belabor the point. (All of them are lovely.) On a hot day, the Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce are brilliant. On a cold day, the Szechuan Beef with Noodle, a rich brothy noodle soup, is equally so. (However, the Pork with Brown Sauce and Noodle is lackluster, so avoid it.) The scallion pancake, which truly deserves a category to itself, is a delight and a mere three dollars. Light and crispy and actually fried to order, the Noodle Bowl offers up a great rendition of a oft-neglected classic. Order it the moment you sit down. Dumplings, noodles and a pancake--enough food to leave two people very well sated--will cost around twenty dollars.

SNB isn't perfect. Don’t expect atmosphere, don’t expect service; but that being said, to have a modest, comforting place where you go for your soup, or your dumplings, it’s worth pushing through. Despite its faults, we've fallen in love, and--at long last--we finally have a significant other worth introducing to our parents.