Sorry for the delay in replying. Sigh! Yeah, for only the second time I got “whited.” There was absolutely no ma la to speak of in the order of ZaJiang mian with peas, but it was still quite good. The chaoshou with chili oil had ma la. As usual, TonyC is right about the zhong dumplings. Those are great.
It will probably mark me as a heretic or…something…but they sure reminded me of the cold noodles at the late New Chong Qing (well, when they were on their game). And, yeah, I know, they are a Chongqing style, so, you know - duh
NOTICE: We will open tomorrow finally after the repairing! Meet you all at MIAN! See the awesome photos our customers posted on Instagram...I feel like we don't need professional photographer anymore!
+1 on those wontons. there’s a solid foundation of… either five spice powder or star anise that really brought those flavors together. i wanted to tongue the bowl afterwards.
from the appetizers the pickled radish was pretty spicy, but had a satisfying sourness and texture and our table of five polished it all off in about 30 seconds.
if you can’t abide spicy, stay away from the innocuous looking pickled beef soup. those little red peppers would not be amiss in a bottle of dave’s instant insanity. i couldn’t even begin to guess at the scofield level.
Checked out Mian for lunch today. Got the ZaJiang and Gizzard noodles. Neither blew my socks off, spice level is quite mild. Expected a a more pronounced in your face explosion of flavors. Noodles were a tad too soft.
The bone soup Chaoshou dumplings on the other hand was very good. Soft silky skin wrapped around the pork meat.
I can see myself coming back again for an entree of dumplings accompanied by a couple of appetizers.
Went last night. Had some of the noodles with (yellow) peas. And the seafood dumplings (probably pork dumplings with seafood broth and pieces). Pretty salty. Wanted the cold noodles, but they aren’t serving them now. NB; cash only.
Had some leftover deafood dumplings 2 days later. Tasted better than in the restaurant. I’m guessing the seafood needed the additional time to soak into the broth.
Had the zajiang mian and the flavor of the chili-mix was on point. Spicyness was medium to mild at most but the noodles were poor quality. I wish they made their noodles in house! The noodles were soft and lacked QQ. I wouldn’t go again.
Warrior: I am surprised nobody has mentioned that a new branch of Mian opened recently in West Adams, a few blocks from Alta and Mizlala. Personally, I don’t like Mian’s noodles because they are too soft and don’t bite back. I also thought the mapo tofu topping was on the bland side. But a couple of sides–the broccoli and wood ear mushrooms–were solid.
The Chinese noodle places I like are Meet Qin Noodles, Shaanxi Garden, Chongqing Special Noodles, and Northern Cafe (Monterey Park, not LA). Also, Qin West for liang pi (an exception to the rule that all noodles must be al dente / QQ).
When I walked into Mian West Adams and mentioned I had eaten at the San Gabriel and Rowland Heights branches the proprietor immediately made the disclaimer that the food at West Adams had been altered to meet local sensibilities, primarily meaning the spice level has been toned down. Somebody else made the complaint that they used lettuce where bok choy would have been expected. Don’t know what other adaptations have been made. The good news is that the clientele seems to be about a quarter to a third Asian so it’s good enough to save a trip across town. And growing up in West Adams it’s great to have Chinese food again on W. Adams Blvd. There’s been no Chinese food, not even a steam table/heat lamp express place on that part of Adams since 30 years ago, when one of those old combination Chinese and American food eateries shut down.
