If you’re going to name your restaurant after the food you plan on serving, then you need to make sure your product stands head and shoulders above the rest. For example, if you’re going to open a Red Lobster, then you had better serve some of the best lobster around. The same goes for any food.
This notion was not lost on Noodles, a company that opened a restaurant in Chattanooga this month. Having tasted several of their dishes, I feel safe saying they’ve earned their name.
One of the exciting things about a new restaurant is the adventure of eating there the first time. Will you like the food? Will you enjoy the ambience? Will they serve something that draws you back again and again?
I go in hoping for the best, but the jury was still out on Noodles as I walked in for the first time and spotted the order counter at the far end of a large dining area.
The massive menu behind the counter at Noodles is easy to read. My eyes tend to wander aimlessly over menus, so I appreciate restaurants that have organized their selections in an easily understandable way. At a glace, I knew Noodles serves three categories of pasta dishes: Mediterranean, Asian and American. And for those who are dragged kicking and screaming against their will to a pasta restaurant – hard to imagine, but there are weird people out there – Noodles also serves soups and sandwiches.
If you’ll permit me, I’m going to focus on the pasta. Under those three categories, you’ll find dishes built on one of eight kinds of noodles: penne, udon, elbow, spaghetti, rice, cavatappi, egg and whole grain. You can also add one of six proteins to any selection: Parmesan chicken, grilled chicken, steak, shrimp, meatballs and tofu. I decided to go with a personal favorite under the American menu: mushroom stroganoff. If Noodles had gotten that right, then we would be friends for life.
Before I share my thoughts about the stroganoff, I’d like to address the issue of where Noodles gets its pasta. If you live in Chattanooga, you could not have escaped the recent discussion about buying and eating local. Gourmands in the Scenic City love their food grown down the road, and with good reason: it’s fresher and therefore tastes better. Noodles, however, gets its pasta from North Dakota.
Now, before you scrunch up your nose and say “North Dakota?” like you’re in a Pace Picante Sauce commercial, consider this: The farm from which Noodles gets its pasta makes its product just for the restaurant and then ships it to the stores. So, while the pasta has a few more miles behind it than something made locally, you can still point to the farm on a map and know it made food for your Noodles. And given the taste, I’m betting the people in North Dakota who eat it aren’t complaining.
Yes, Noodles serves good pasta. The egg noodles that provided a bed for the mushroom sherry cream sauce, fresh herbs, cracked pepper, sautéed mushrooms and Parmesan cheese were light, fluffy and had a satisfying flavor. Not only that, but I ordered the stroganoff with steak – and Noodles got the steak right! Gamy beef can ruin an otherwise good stroganoff, but the big, chewy pieces Noodles served up were perfect. The sauce was a bit too salty, but that was the only sour note in an otherwise perfect symphony of flavors. (Besides, as Frasier once said to his brother Niles, there’s nothing better than a wonderful meal with one tiny flaw at which you can pick.)
Since eating the stroganoff, I’ve also tried one dish each from the Asian and Mediterranean menus. The Japanese Pan Noodles, which consists of camelized udon noodles in a sweet soy sauce, was delicious. The bowl was loaded with crisp vegetables, chewy shiitake mushrooms and spices. If you like your pasta with a kick, then you’ll probably enjoy this dish.
Next, I sampled the Penne Rosa, a Mediterranean favorite. It instantly became a person favorite, too. The hearty penne pasta was covered with a spicy tomato cream sauce, mushrooms, spinach and Parmesan. Although Parmesan chicken would complement this dish nicely, I decided to go vegetarian, and loved every bit. As I said, it’s got a kick, too, but the creamy tomato sauce keeps the spices in check.
Now to address the issue of serving sizes. While I could give up meat before I could forego pasta, noodles are known being packed with carbs. All of the pasta dishes at Noodles come in small and regular sizes, and the regular size was more than enough for me. Just look at the pictures and see. If you’re watching your calories, which are different from carbs but are still a consideration when eating pasta, then you’ll appreciate the menus at Noodles, which display the calorie content for each dish.
If you really want to try Noodles but are watching your caloric intake, then I recommend the small Bangkok Curry, which comes piled with vegetables and weighs in at 240 calories. Including shrimp, which should taste great with the sweet coconut curry, adds only 80 more. Even better, you can enjoy your bowl on the patio, which overlooks Market and 4th Streets.
Speaking of sweet, and of NOT watching your calories, if you like Rice Krispie treats, then your eyes will swell when you see the massive treats Noodles makes daily. Unfortunately, an obscure journalism ethics code prevents me from revealing the number I’ve eaten in the two weeks the restaurant has been open...
Three more things and you’ll be free to go: One, Noodles has something for everyone. If you’re adventurous, prefer standard cuisine, or have kids, you should be able to find something you and they like. The exception might be my wife, who was raised on New York City pasta and has yet to meet a noodle outside of the Big Apple she can tolerate.
(Having mentioned kids, I’d like to offer a side note to entice you to try Noodles: When you go, order your offspring the Wisconsin Mac & Cheese and insist on taste testing it.)
Two, I question their choice of drink machine, which has one spout for ice and soda and utilizes touch-screen technology for making a selection. While it’s unique, I can see people during lunch hour lining up and waiting as everyone grabs their drink.
Finally, if you have any number of allergies, including peanut allergies, all you have to do is tell the cashier, who will call the manager on duty to the register, who in turn will make sure your food is prepared in an allergen-free manner. Manager Mega Bozeman said she and her crew essentially shut down the kitchen for a few moments and run through a cleaning drill to make sure everything is freshly washed.
Chattanooga has a lot of first-rate restaurants, but you can never have too many. For that reason, Noodles is a welcome addition to the Scenic City food scene. Check it out and let us know what you think.