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A server rushes to my desk with a pot of very popular hen broth. “Watch out,” snaps his hovering supervisor because the younger man gingerly locations the soup in entrance of me. Already on the desk is a bowl of cooked rice noodles and a tray of dishes holding components so as to add to the pot: one uncooked quail egg, one massive chunk of iceberg, some sliced ham, canned corn, wood-ear mushrooms, chives, pickled cabbage, imitation crab, one thing the Chinese language discuss with as snow fungus however that you can imagine as mushrooms; and a pork-based, house-made soup focus, for thickening and seasoning.
At my behest, the server shortly dumps the elements within the pot, offers all of it an excellent stir, takes away the empty dishes and leaves me at it. Utilizing a giant plastic dipper and a pair of chopsticks, that is the best way one eats at Yunnan Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle, which since November has been offering Atlanta noodle-heads an genuine expertise from its namesake province in southwestern China.
Crossing Bridge is owned by Fu Li Zang and Rachel Yuan, proprietors of the extraordinary LanZhou Ramen on Buford Freeway, well-known for its hand-pulled and knife-cut noodles. This time, the couple has attached with a Hangzhou-based chain, which appears intent on making the beforehand obscure in America however completely Instagram-ready crossing-the-bridge noodles a global sensation. Zang and Yuan are already at work on Crossing Bridge No. 2, opening later this yr in Kennesaw.
You may wish to cross this bridge whereas it’s nonetheless a novel expertise. It received’t disappoint. Usually, it’s fairly tasty.
Some necessary distinctions: Crossing Bridge is slicker and faster than LanZhou. You possibly can sense this within the corporate-looking front-window signage; the contemporary decor with the informal vibe; the velocity at which the noods are rushed to the desk, and the checks offered. Proper up entrance, I ought to let you know the signature rice noodles are commercially manufactured. They arrive in a bundle, as you’d anticipate from a high-volume chain. You aren’t going to get a LanZhou-level, hand-worked noodle right here.
What you’ll get is a full-meal bowl at an interesting worth level (most soups are $12) and the flexibility to select from a dozen totally different broths (beef, curry, kimchi, mushroom, tomato, “scorching pot taste,” Sichuan peppercorn-enhanced at two totally different warmth ranges, and so forth). Then you definately get to personalize them with quite a lot of proteins (fatty beef, hen thighs, pork ribs, fish). And typically, a tray of add-ins to stir in tableside.
If this sounds overwhelming, it may be. I depend about 60 soups on the menu. It’s possible you’ll hear the clock tick as your celebration makes its choices. Nonetheless, for those who can handle to level to a dish, it’s easy crusing. The workers will deal with the remainder.
One of the best soup I sampled over three visits was the “scorching pot taste” with “beef mixtures,” exceedingly hearty with a nuanced broth. Not like a real scorching pot, there’s no tray of goodies to dump in and no tabletop heating aspect, although you do get the complete steamboat impact: a boiling kettle of broth with billowing clouds of smoke because the kettle is whisked from kitchen to desk. The pre-assembled dish cooks en route. As soon as cool sufficient to sip, you could have a pleasant however not too intense spice stage and many texture (shank, tendon, tripe). A positive dish.
I used to be much less enchanted with a custom-made vegetarian combo of tomato broth and mushrooms. Additionally pre-mixed within the kitchen, it was a bit like traditional Campbell’s out of the can with a lot of chewy stems and caps.
Relying on what you order, your protein could come uncooked for including to the pot as a part of your set — or pre-cooked (as with my scrumptious beef curry rice noodle soup). Typically, it’s lurking within the soup. Such was the case with our “pork chop” in “bitter spicy” broth. The so-called chop turned out to be three pork ribs, tender sufficient to select up and munch off the bone. I actually favored the vinegar-y soup, flavored with bitter cabbage and lemon, and its mislabeled meat.
I neither liked nor despised a gently tingly Sichuan broth with fillets of flaky sole. Ditto my Authentic Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle Soup, with a cloudy hen broth and, at my request, pre-cooked hen thighs as an alternative of the slices of fatty beef that usually include the dish. Possibly the meat would have remodeled it; alas, on this explicit rain-soaked day, it was hardly the comforting bowl of hen noodle soup I craved. As for Crossing Bridge’s rice noodles typically, it’s fairly customary rice vermicelli, moderately silken at first chew, in the end robust sufficient to not go limp with all of the swishing and swashing.
Aside from the chilly appetizers (that are saved prepared within the chiller up entrance), starters can take some time. The sliced beef with beef tendon (seasoned with chiles and oil) was a bit ho-hum, as was the chilly bean-curd sheet (aside from its trace of toasted sesame oil). The steamed and pan-fried dumplings and pot stickers (search for them underneath the “genuine dim sum” part of the menu) are virtually higher than the soups, however they usually come within the center or close to the top of the meal.
These dumplings are all house-made, and I take nice delight within the lacy little pancake that magically types on the backside of the skillet when the fresh-made dumplings are fried. If nothing else, crumble these crispies up and put them in your soup. Will probably be in good firm.
Crossing Bridge is just not an ideal restaurant by any stretch. The dumplings are wonderful, however I wouldn’t journey any nice distance to hunt out the noodles. And but, Zang and Yuan know a factor or two about showmanship. LanZhou has a window at the back of the room, in order that guests can observe, and videotape the noodle acrobatics. Crossing-the-bridge noodles appear custom-tailored for a contemporary viewers that revels in taking photos of meals and posting them on the Web.
Sure, that features me. However in the long run, I select taste over trend. I’m extra more likely to head to LanZhou after I’m within the temper for a memorable slurp. However for enjoyable and flash, Crossing Bridge is value a cease.
Yunnan Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle
General score: 2 of four stars (excellent)
Meals: A Chinese language chain specializing within the crossing-the-bridge fashion of noodles from the southwestern province of Yunnan; regionally owned by the husband-and-wife crew behind LanZhou Ramen.
Service: Employees is comfortable to assist the uninitiated.
Setting: within the nook of a suburban strip mall
Finest dishes: Steamed chive and egg buns. Steamed pork buns. Shanghai pan-fried pork buns. Fried pot sticker dumplings with onion. Beef curry rice noodle soup. “Beef mixtures” hot-pot taste soup.
Vegetarian choices: Chilly bean-curd sheet, tasty shredded potato, seaweed shredded with ginger sauce, cucumber with garlic and vinegar, steamed chive and egg buns. Tomato and mushroom broth soups, could be custom-made in line with desire.
Value vary: $
Bank cards: all however American Specific
Hours: 10:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Sundays
Kids: certain
Parking: lots within the free lot
MARTA station: no
Reservations: sure
Wheelchair entry: sure
Noise stage: low to average
Patio: no
Takeout: sure
Tackle, cellphone: 2180 Nice Hill Highway, Duluth. 470-719-8448
Web site: ricenoodleatlanta.com
RELATED:
Extra metro Atlanta restaurant evaluations
Gwinnett Eating Information
Learn the AJC Fall Eating Information: The Noodle Version
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