ULTIMATE NOODLE TOUR with Mark Wiens in Greater Los Angeles!

This is just iced tea. Oh, that looks nice. That looks nice. That looks nice. Good morning. It's Mike Chen here at the 626, my favorite area for Chinese food, all sorts of Chinese food in greater Los Angeles. And today, today we're going to focus. I don't think I've done this in a while. We're going to have a noodle day today. It's going to be And I cannot wait to show you guys this video because I found a few amazing spots, especially this new one that just opened a couple months ago. You guys got to check this place out. And I'm not going to be doing this alone today. I got someone pretty cool joining me on this news tour. What's up, buddy? How's it going? Good to see you. Good to see you again. Last time we were together was Thailand. Yeah, it was, right? Yeah. That's such a long time ago. You were still, you were still carrying Micah on your chest. On my chest. Yeah. Slurping noodles over his head. I tell stories about that because I'm like, yo, Mark took me to a place. Do you remember? We did a noodle tour together. We did a noodle tour in Thailand. It's only fitting that we're doing another noodle tour. This is a hundred percent a 360. I was your guest on your noodle tour. Now you're coming with me on my noodle tour. I think you're going to like it. I really do. You ready for this? Let's do it. All right, Mark, this is, I'm so excited to show this to you because this is Xi'an food. I know you've been to Xi'an famous foods in New York. Have you had like a full on Xi'an food experience? I don't think so, actually. And then Xi'an, you've never been. Yeah, I've never been to Xi'an. So Xi'an is in Northern China. So we eat a lot of noodles because Southern China eats a lot of rice. Northern China has a lot of flour, buns, noodles. There's just something about it. You go inside, you see all local Chinese people eating here. No English spoken here. Right, right, right. You know, it's the real deal. I'm just going to start ordering and we're just going to start eating. Okay. This is the iconic noodle dish in Xi'an. Like an absolute must. Must get. All right, Jjajangmyeon is here. Oh, this is the real deal of Jjajangmyeon. Yep. Mike, man, what an order. This is the general size of bowls we're dealing with here. It's like a tub. Look at this. This is massive belts of noodles. First of all, we got the Qishan Saozimian. So Saozimian in Chinese, it means like little cubes of stuff, like little chunks of meat and veggies. So here you're going to get hand-pulled noodles. You can get little cubes of tofu, potatoes, wood ear, pork. The thing with pork in Xi'an and Shaanxi, it has to have fat. Oh yeah. Every single one. You see that? Yep, that perfect ratio. Oh, dude. How good is that? Oh, the soup. Spicy and sour, but come on. Is it tomatoey? It's tomatoey. Because it has that tartness. Yeah. Oh, dude. I know you, my friend. We're not satisfied with just some regular chilies. Oh, no. No, we got to bump it up. Oh, for sure. We did the same thing in Thailand. Oh, I remember this. I mean, that's one of the joys of eating noodles is bumping up that flavor. Now, Chinese hot oil is not going to be as sharp as Thai chilies, but let's light it up. But that fragrance, you see the sesame seeds in there. Yep. So every time the Xi'an people, when we eat noodles, we have to make sure it's sour enough and it's spicy enough. So that's why we use Chinese black vinegar typically. But I think this one is pretty sour. Dude. Oh, wow. That adds in like an amazing smokiness. You got so much texture. Potatoes, the tofu, melting in your mouth, little pieces of pork. Next one we're doing is the lamb pita soup. You said, what does this look like to you? Oh, this is lamb. Like little pebbles of dough. That's exactly what it is. It's almost like porridge style, right? Yeah. This is a popular dish for the Uyghur population. In China, you actually eat this with candied, pickled garlic and garlic chili. So you don't usually add chili oils to this. You add garlic chilies to this. Oh, they have it. They have the pickled garlic. You got to eat it with the pickled garlic. I'm so happy to give you that experience right now. Dude, that's like an insider's tip right there. So you know in China, you know these little bits of pita bread, right? Oh, like kind of like the bread that's on the burger. Exactly. So in China, what they would do is that they will give you the pita itself and you will break it yourself. You're supposed to only break it about half the size of your pinky nail. Okay. Our drinks are here. This is what Chinese people drink ever since childhood. Arctic Ocean. Yes, this is exactly what we drink. So you're feasting on authentic Chinese food, traditional Chinese food. You need a beverage to go with it. You do. Cheers, my friends. Oh, it's actually awesome. Yeah, it's like a Fanta. Oh, thank you, Stephen. Here we go. This is so crazy. This is a Tang Suan, pickled garlic. And as much as I love chili oils, this is the garlic oil you got to put in. So put some in there. Okay. Now take a piece of the garlic. Garlic. Yeah. Garlic you up. Thank you. There you go. Thanks, bro. Now you mash that in Keep it in your spoon. Let's do two versions. One, take a take a bite of just a lamb and pita without the without the garlic. All right. Dude, don't even need to chew, man. No, you see how like the little pitas turn into like nice al dente pasta. More gummy than dough. Yes. Now take your garlic. Okay. Got the garlic in the spoon. Take one garlic and just there's skin, so don't use the skin. As you're chewing the garlic, take a bite. Garlic is in the mouth. Oh, what a combination, dude. Isn't that good? Garlic is so sweet and mild yet pungent at the same time. Yeah, it's a different kind of acid that you're adding to this. And it's the aroma just goes through the roof. So this whole dish is the number one dish in Xi'an. The Yang lamb pita soup. So good. All right, buddy. Second most iconic dish in Xi'an, the Liangpi. These are cold wheat noodles. You know how they make these? You have to literally wash dough until the water becomes so saturated with flour, flour floating everywhere. Then you steam it. So there's steamed wheat noodles. And you can see they're almost translucent. I got you, bro. Thanks, man. So this would be like something that's very, very common in Xi'an. Very common. Omni-present. Oh, you go to Xi'an, this is what you're eating. This and the yangrou pomelo is what you're eating. Here, I'm going to give you some of that juice. That's perfect. Because there's a reason for that. Dressing. There you go. So this is little pieces of gluten, by the way. It's basically like an edible sponge. It's cold noodles. I forgot to tell you that. It's refreshing. Yeah. Little slivers of cucumber in there. Yes. Add a little crunch. Now, here's the thing. Here's how you make it complete. This is a pork belly burger. This is called a Chinese burger. So the bun is freshly made. It's toasted, so it kind of has the tiger pattern on the outside. That's what you know is good. Crispy on the outside. And the burger itself is just cooked with marinated pork belly. And you're going to have all that great juice just soaked into the bun. All right, buddy, take your half. Thanks, man. We're going pork belly first? Yes. So try this first. Juicy pork belly, crispy bun. Now, make it better. Dip it into your liangpi sauce. Oh, yeah. Dunk it. All right, let's do it. Yeah, man. So you can kind of just like switch between bun, noodle, wipe, dip. The ultimate Romeo and Juliet combo in food. Except for there's no tragedy at the end. Only happiness. Only happiness. Only happiness. All right, man, we got to get to our noodles. All right. So we have the zhajiang noodle and we have the youpo noodle. The youpo noodle is basically, they take garlic, scallions, and chilies, and they flash fry it right at the end. So the aroma just burst into the noodles. Bro, this is also called biang biang noodles. Oh, okay. Because. Yeah, you know why? All right. Is it because of the way it's slapped? Yeah. Okay. That sound that it makes when they're slapping it out. They're also called belt noodles. Straight up. You can use that as a best kind of belt ever. Oh, yeah. It's just in case you get stuck somewhere, you don't have anything to eat. You got your belt. All right. Slurp this up. All right, man. The Mike and Hale oven belt. How do you not? That is so ridiculous. That is ultimate comfort food. Yeah. I mean, it's just everything is happy. Your mouth is happy. Your teeth is happy. It's ridiculous. I never got this before. This is the zhajiang noodle. Let's try this. All good. It's all good here. You ready for dessert? Lamb cumin burger, my friend. Grab your half. I like what you think. So there's two common types of Chinese burgers. One is pork and one is lamb and cumin. There we go. Cheers. That cumin in there, dude. The cumin is rocking it. It's the underutilized I loved everything you ordered. I know the chili spice level is not as high as it is in Thailand, but still, Xi'an food, we love our spice. We love our sourness, vinegary flavor. So it's kind of a different kind of vinegar than Thai vinegar. And it's like a really fragrant chili flavor to it. Yeah. Vinegar, too. It's fermented vinegar. And that vinegar, too. Yeah. So you got a lot of umaminess in all the dishes. You ready to keep going? We got more noodles. Let's keep moving. All right, buddy. Next location. All right. So they're kind enough to let us try this well. Here's yours. Thank you. And here's mine. So we pull it. Oh, it's really it's actually very soft. Yeah. And then you you go like this, pull it and then put it back together. Yeah. And then link it and then pull it again. And then just, oh, you can literally jump rope with this. Yeah. I think it's ready to eat. All right, Mark. Location number two. You still feeling good? I'm ready. Okay. Now, when we talk about noodles, we have to hit up some Uyghur cuisine. Oh, yeah. Their noodles are exceptional. This place I hear is amazing. This is actually my first time here. I usually go to a different Uyghur restaurant. But what I love about Uyghur. Oh, there's a whole lamb. Oh, do we have $500? Oh, dude. Old Dolan's Tower kebab. All right. I brought you in here to get you one dish that I really think is delicious. I might just have to order a couple more. Like the whole lamb. Like one of each of this. This is what I love about places like this. It's nothing fancy. It's very like just like rustic food. But the spices are used perfectly. I would have got this whole lamb if I knew that existed here. So, Mark, you and I know each other for a long, long time. But we haven't seen each other in so long. Okay. We've both traveled to a lot of places in between, you know, since last time I saw you. Hands down, favorite place in the world right now, besides Thailand. Favorite place in the world? Favorite place in the world to travel and a favorite place in the world for food. Ethiopia is one country I love, dude. I love it. Travel or food? The people, the food, the history, the culture, everything. The coffee. Really? Yeah. Ethiopia is up there. Mexico, too. Mexico? I love almost everything about Mexico. What was your favorite thing in Mexico? Just street tacos? Yeah. Food. I mean, the variety, the variety, the diversity. Yeah. You live in Thailand, though, right? So, if you couldn't live in Thailand anymore, where would you live then? Where would I live? I love Southeast Asia. I love Indonesia. I love Indonesia. Maybe Indonesia, dude. Indonesia? Yeah. People always ask this of all of us. What's the weirdest, considered weirdest food you ever ate? Or should I say most exotic food item you've ever had? Rats and squirrels. On camera? Yeah. Would you eat the rats? Yeah. I've eaten rats throughout Thailand. Is that a common? Oh, yeah. In the countryside, field rats. Oh, yeah. Anyway, I wanted to ask you, I saw your video where you went to, with that guy that feasted hyenas. Yes. That's in Ethiopia. Yeah. You just let him do that? You're like, you're just like. Oh, she was back at the hotel. Did you know he was about to do that? Could you watch him do that? Could you, you couldn't watch him do that? You're just on your own and nobody, if you disappeared, nobody would know. You just sat there with this guy, put a What happens is I'm like shaking and. Were you scared? Yeah, I was scared. And so like the hyena man, he brings out like this basket of camel. The hyenas eat camel. We're outside of the city's city walls. It's pitch black. We didn't bring any lights apart from the headlights of the van. Right. So you turn on these lights and all of a sudden you just hear, all of a sudden like a pack of 20 hyenas like emerges from the complete pitch blackness and he starts chucking chunks of camel out. I'm out of the van. They're like 20 feet away. And then the, the guide I was with in order to get me to do that. Cause I was like, dude, no way, no way, man. I'm not getting closer than this. I'll stay here. I'll watch the hyena man feed them. What he does is he's like, here, just go a little bit closer. He got my camera. He's like, I'm going to take a photo. And then he's like, sit down on this rock. Seconds later, I feel his warm paws on my back. I see a piece of like camel hanging in front of my face. And then, then all of a sudden this, this hyena comes up like that. And I like smell the breath of the look down his throat. Does the hyena just not want to eat a juicy piece of human? I mean, you're pretty spiced up. I mean, you've got a lot of spice in your life. I'm sure the camel is tastier, man. I was looking at it. I was like, no way I would ever do that, dude. It's crazy situation, man. Here we go. Wow. Nice. Here it is. Is it similar to Langman? It's it's well, it's the noodles are similar, but this dish, it's just called a big plate of chicken. And that's how beautiful it is. I love how direct it is. Right. And what I love about this dish is there's a surprise underneath. The noodles are underneath. Again, those are just like belts of noodles. Yeah. They're so, so wide. And this looks already so amazingly chewy. Potatoes. One of my favorite things about this dish. Cause you know, this is going to be scrumptious and soft with all that juice soaked in large chunks of chicken bone in. So you get more flavor. And chunks of meat just on hooks with sesame herbs and spices rubbed in. Don't you love a meat carousel? Oh, a meat Christmas tree. Do you think when you were a kid, if your mom gave you one of these and just kind of spun it over the crib, you just fall asleep in like two seconds. You eat it all and then fall asleep. Enjoy my friend. Thank you. My favorite potatoes in the world might be from this dish. They just absorb all that. And the cinnamon in there is what's like standing out. And the heat is so nice. It's such a compliment. It's not overwhelming anything. You're still tasting everything you're supposed to be tasting. Again, it's such a rustic dish. It's a dish designed to keep you full. It's designed to keep you warm. Keep you comfortable. It's hearty. This is basically a noodle blanket. Like this is comfort blanket. The chicken is delicious too. It's got that braised softness, which is not mushy, but just like absorbed all that flavor. The balance of the spice and the aroma is just so great. We only came here to order one dish and ended up ordering three. Let's try this first because I'm thinking this could also be a great dipping sauce. I like the way you think Mike. Wow. It's so good. The onions in there. Yeah. And also this outer crush just melts. It's so buttery and flaky. Yeah. Dissolves when it touches your tongue. It tastes like lamb lard is just holding this breading together. A little better. The softness of it. Dude, that's actually ridiculously good. That's what you should do. How do we even attempt to try this? It's like a rock climbing wall, dude. Let's just pick one. Dude, look at that. This thing is insane. Close look. It's glistening with juice. I see some peppers, some cumin for sure. Sesame seeds. Cheers. Tender and lean. You taste that great char. Like just a light cumin. And the smoke is like dancing on your tongue. I wasn't expecting it to be that tender. Incredibly tender. Happiness is me right now. This is seriously good food. Yeah, this is really, really good. All right, we got to finish all this. It's not over yet. We got to find a conclusion. We have a tree to finish. Yeah, a meat tree. A meat tree and then more noodles because what do you want for dessert? Noodles. Of course. Yeah, that's how we're going to finish. All right, buddy. Last stop of our noodle tour. All right, man. Do you still have space? I think I can fit in one more bowl of noodles. Yeah? Well, this one is one of my favorite soup noodles in the Los Angeles area. Oh, really? Yeah. Grab some noodles, grab some dumplings, wrap up a good day. Still with Mr. Dragon Noodle. I found this place. You ever just wander around and just like whatever looks good, you just walk in and get no plans? Oh, yeah. I'm sure you do that a lot in Thailand. A lot. So that's what I did with this place. A few years ago, I was walking around and I found this place, came in, tried it, and I'm loving it. So it's beef noodle soup. I haven't found a lot of good beef noodle soups around the country. This, I really like. Anyway, can I get this? Get some dumplings? Our drinks came. Like, I thought we were going to be surprised by the food, right? Here's our drinks. Ready? This is just iced tea. Dude, last time I cupped this big, I was in Germany, man. Cheers, buddy. And it was not tea in the cup. One thing you guys may not know, when you eat food all day, especially noodles, it's so much salt. Like, throughout the day. Like, we both, like, when you film these videos, it's just so much sodium. Yeah. And I'm glad they brought us this. And nothing tastes better than something really cold. Yeah. Tastes like honey, though. Second glass of tea. You guys thought we were kidding about, um, about being thirsty. This is our second glass. Yeah, that's really good. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Here we go. Oh, this, right from the broth, you'll know. This thing, first of all, is going to be spicy. And secondly, it is going to be beefy. And they say this is cooked with 18 different herbs and spices. Oh, no resistance at all. Look at that. No resistance. Noodles. Dude, you can smell those herbs. Oh, for sure. It's therapeutic. I want to just try that broth first, man. Try the broth. Oh, yeah. Oh, wow. You know what? What? It looks like it's going to be really oily, but it's actually, like, so fragrant and herbal. And also, you gotta remember, they put chili oil here. So without chili oil, it'd be less oily than this. You taste the beef, you know, great beef flavor. Oh, like, it's one of those soups that the more it sits on your tongue, the more flavor you taste. Yeah. Oh, man. Thank you. Oh, my gosh. Here we go. Got some layering. Check this out. Have you had this before? Sheng Jian Bao. Oh, man. Yes. Sheng Jian Bao, Shanghainese fried buns. I love doing that. It's just, like, the more you sip it, the more flavors you taste. This might be the softest thing we ever... Oh, man. Wow. Taste so perfect. You gotta chase it with a spoonful of broth. You have to. We gotta come back to this because a couple more items just showed up on our table. Sheng Jian Bao, fried buns, crispy little buns, toasted on the bottom, soft on top, covered in scallions and sesame. And be very careful with this. Okay. This will burn you. Yes. Scalding hot inside, so you gotta be very careful. Let's take a little nibble on top. Oh, yeah. You guys don't believe me. You see that? That juice pouring out. That could all just burn you, but don't waste it. Oh, this juice is so nice. All the sesame flavor of it. Oh, yeah. Have some vinegar. It's okay. Hot oil. Thanks, man. Yeah, buddy. Yeah, buddy. You know what could also be good? Take it and dunk it in the soup. Yes. Dude, I was thinking the same thing. I was thinking even a spoon-on. A spoon-on. There you go. Oh, that looks nice. That looks nice. I'm gonna dunk it myself and just go ahead and get that submerged in there. Cheers, my friend. Ah, so good. So good. The bottom is the best part. I mean, I love the meat filling. That's great. Pan-fried, crispy bottom. That is everything. One more thing to try. This is amazing. They're hongyou chaoshou, hot oil wonton. And this looks like it's covered in garlic, chilies, all sauced up. And what looks like it's just so stuffed, right? You can see inside, the skin is pretty much translucent and so thin. This is what I love about these wontons. And right now, look at this, baby. Covered in chilies, rolling around in there, getting all nice and dirty and scrumptious. I'm just gonna one-bite this bad boy. Yeah, this is the one-biter. Oh, the garlic. So good. The garlic and the crunch of the peanuts. I think my favorite is still dunking the fried bun into the beef broth. That's a promo, dude. Yeah. Guys, don't say you never learn anything from watching this show. Like, next time, show your parents that. I bet you they don't know. Dunk your buns into your beef broth. All right, man. Well, I feel like it's been too long for us to do this again, but I can't believe it happened in California. Yeah, and randomly. We actually didn't know each other was going to be in LA or in San Gabriel Valley until we met up. You know what it was? It was the noodle of fate that drew us together. The bond. But man, it was great hanging out with you today. Yes, dude. Let's see where we meet up next time. As always, guys, definitely check this legend, Al Markwings. I'll put all his information down below for you. Thank you guys so much for watching. Until we eat again. See you later. Thanks, Mike. Thanks, buddy. As always. That was fun. That was the best.