Of course they don’t lose money, but they do lose margin. My point was to protect the margins by picking up yourself whenever possible. Just another way to strengthen your support of the industry. Sorry if that was unclear.
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@MVJPL Totally hear you on this. I don’t live close by and Needle used to be so out of the way for me, but I always make a point to come see Ryan more often than I should 
Last week’s update: the chain burger thing has opened across the street… It ain’t stoppin me from my deli fridge 
Still the best togo things!
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Not necessarily. Some restaurants charge delivery services the same amount they do me if I pick it up myself. Just ask them. I think the delivery services make up for it with bigger service charges.
A new dish coming to Needle’s menu this week:
https://www.instagram.com/p/Ckdzm4ILuK_/
Who will be the first person trying it out 
I won’t be able to get over there until Friday or the weekend, but I’m so happy that a new snack is arriving Possibly more fun to come 
Happy Wednesday 
Thank you, Ryan 
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Pre-banging at Needle…
cherng fun, sesame, hoisin, soy sauce
These are no longer grilled over binchotan. Instead, I believe these ones are seared over their griddle so there’s a thin and crunchy crust on the outside while still retaining rice noodle’s signature soft and slight chewy center. Classic Hong Kong stuff.
grape, lychee, green tea
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Can’t wait until the weekend to munch on it!Cheers to the cherng fun train! Nutty, delicious rice rolls.
Just like @moonboy403 described. It was lightly crispy outside and tender yet retain a good chewy texture inside, dressed with sesame, hoisin and soy sauce.
I sniffed it so happily when it landed on my table. Tasty and even tastier when it’s still hot and crispy!
*Good by itself, with vegetables, Charsiu and fried egg 
Appetizers: Cherng Fun, Eggplant Bamboo, Pickles
This vegan highlight paired so well with Eggplant Bamboo, Pickles and a hot tea. Good dim sum moment
Main: Charsiu Bun
I watched Table for Six | 飯戲攻心 (Trailer) recently and suddenly craving for Ryan’s Charsiu on a table for one 
Dessert: Salted Egg French Toast
I did a bang bang morning workout 
so…
Togo
On a temporary diet because I accidentally ate a bit too much at Needle 
Eggplant Bamboo is healthy
Who made a FTC account just to post Needle’s food?
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Stephy Tang looks very different. I couldn’t recognize her at all.
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She did well. It’s a warm and fuzzy, feeling good family movie with some food jokes and a Charsiu restaurant background. I kept thinking about Needle while watching it somehow 
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Weekly pulse check 
This perfect duo is often sold out because… they’re my main diet 
Do you like these two? 
Butternut squash in Cold Noodles instead of tomato
Nothing pair with Ryan’s nutty cold noodle as perfectly as my ideal type eggplant bamboo 
The butternut squash will help this noodle last longer in the fridge. Maybe you should get this for your Thanksgiving salad or save one for Meatless Monday or whichever the occasion is
It’s definitely 1000% tastier than a random salad at the grocery store at a similar price, with much better ingredients!
(Since Needle’s September reopening) to this point, my whole body is figuratively 65% eggplant Bamboo, 5% cold noodle, 2% other Needle dishes, 18% other food and 10% human… Ryan was oddly surprised that I’m still showing up today, thinking that I would skip, but in my book, their ain’t no quitting 
Happy Needle’s 3rd birthday. Celebrated with gelato!
Spotted a similar machine with Aisu Creamery from Chino Farm. I really miss San Diego Gelato and Ice cream, tho I only ate at two main places(Aisu and Bobboi)
Anyways… Most Gelato and Ice cream in LA are hella hella sweet, man. How’s everyone blood sugar level in this city… I’m low-key worried 
(joking but half serious about how much sweeter everything is vs my expectation/tolerance 
)
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Totally agree, though not sure it’s just LA. I rarely eat ice cream for this reason. When I do it’s my own shitty homemade. Not great but at least it’s not candy.
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I hope some of our ice cream chefs will read our wish and go easy on that sweetness sometimes… I enjoy ice cream similar to what Shunji San offers (for LA dessert program after a meal), mostly because it’s very petite and a little less sweet than others. The salted caramel at sweet rose has good burn caramel taste, strong enough to distract me from how sweet it is.
In San Diego, Aisu ain’t as sweet, mostly taste like the actual fruit because they put so much real high quality fruits in their mix… if you pass by Chino Farm down there, try some. Bobboi gelato for their vegan pitachio and other nutty flavors, much less sweet than LA sweet… I’m gonna start to call out LA sweet from now because it’s much sweeter than San Diego and San Francisco 
Or maybe I’m getting old and super sweet things slowly annoy me 
I low-key want an Industrial ice cream machine, mostly to control the sweetness level and retain the creaminess texture… 
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The best way to do that for consumers is to get a Ninja Creami since it works just like Pacojet so you can use it to make ice cream, gelato, or sorbet without even having to use sugar to temper their freezing point while always creating an ultra smooth texture.
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First I’ve heard of the Creami. I’d like to be able to make all-nut sorbets like Scream (Oakland) used to with a PacoJet.
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It may pass for sorbet but honestly it’s not an ideal machine for smooth smooth ice cream, even when it’s on sale 
Now I want a milkshake 
Here is a good discussion on eGullet around the Creami with many examples. We haven’t used ours really yet but it is the closest you will get to a pacojet without buying one
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Why not?
Not smooth enough 
crystalization happens too easily in the freezer. It’s for icy ice cream, not creamy enough.
I’m trying my best not to waste my precious calories for mediocre ice cream texture, but ice cream temptation is very hard to fight off 
Hence, I surround myself with all the delicious fruits. I’m on an ice cream rehab
That’s the exact thing pacojets are designed to fight off. The base starts off frozen and the pacojet blade spins at such high speed and creates small enough ice crystals that are undetectable which gives off its smoothness. Each serving can spinned a la minute to achieve the ideal texture.
A commercial ice cream machine on the other hand does it the other way around where the liquid base is cooled while its paddle churns to prevent ice crystal from forming but I don’t know if there’s one that consistently spins as quickly as a pacojet while churning. But they do have the advantage of creating large batches of ice cream where as a pacojet is very limited in capacity.
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