Jonathan Gold Goes For Extreme Spice at SGV Noodle Shop

Jonathan Gold begins this week’s review with a lengthy plug for LA Times Food Bowl, where the critic ate a bite of mountain yam at Sichuan Summit that apparently made him slip “into one of those fugue states where the ceiling fades away, the crowd disappears and the floor dissolves into fog, until what is left seems like a thousand flavors folding in on themselves, shimmering, a universe unto itself.”

That bite was the complete opposite of the food at the review’s actual focus, Chong Qing Special Noodles in San Gabriel, where exhilaratingly spicy noodles are the name of the game:

But you are probably there for the noodles — even the non-spicy ones like the hand-pulled zha jiang mian, with pork and sweet, black bean paste; oniony Qishan noodles, from Shaanxi province, served with a big handful of minced pork [...]

The Chongqing noodles are thin, bouncy things, vibrating with several different kinds of chile heat, tossed with vegetables and pork — everything you want when you go out for Sichuan noodles, with a hard-fried egg on top. [LAT]

The Goldster concludes the relatively short summary of the place by saying it “may not be especially refined, but sometimes it is exactly what you need.” After slurping down the noodles, “it is hard not to be happy.”

• All Week in Reviews [ELA]
• All San Gabriel Valley Coverage [ELA]