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Noodle Alcove

BY LARYN IVY
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Noodle Alcove, in Chinatown, might be more aptly named Noodle Hole-in-the-Wall. Located on the second floor of a nondescript building between Beech and Kneeland Streets, the interior of this fluorescent-lit, linoleum-floored, sparsely decorated restaurant gives little indication of the treats that await diners. However, if you catch it at the right time, you might see the chef in the front window, rolling, twisting, and pulling dough for Noodle Alcove’s signature hand-drawn noodles.

But don’t be too quick to pass over the appetizers on your way to the main attraction. Crab Rangoon ($4.75) is crunchy, golden packets of cream cheese, onions, and crab. Pan-fried Peking ravioli ($4.75) are gigantic, Paul Bunyan–size versions of the standard Chinese appetizer, stuffed with lightly spiced ground-pork filling and served with a slightly sweet soy dipping sauce.

Handmade noodles are available in soups or fried dishes, and they come knife-cut (thick) or pulled (thinner); unless you specifically ask for knife-cut, you’ll get the thin version. Chicken-noodle soup ($4.95) is stocked with smooth, fresh noodles swimming in fragrant and steaming broth. Other noodle soups include roast pork ($4.95), beef ($4.95), duck ($5.75), and vegetable ($4.95).

The noodles also are the base for a variety of stir-fried dishes — more like a lo mein, but nothing like the lo mein your school cafeteria used to serve. Chicken-fried noodles ($9.95) are a dish large enough for at least two to share and come with thin slices of chicken, scallions, bean sprouts, onions, and carrots. Chicken chow mein ($5.95) is — gasp — not made with hand-drawn noodles, but is still very good, with fresh chunks of chicken, scallions, sprouts, and carrots mixed with long yellow noodles in a light, salty, soy-flavored sauce.

In addition to the noodle specialties of the house, Noodle Alcove serves the usual Chinese-menu fare — again in portions far too big for one person. Sesame chicken ($8.95) is lightly battered and delicately fried. The sweet and tangy sauce atop it is a delicious addition to the almost tempura-style chicken.

Desserts aren’t served at Noodle Alcove, nor, unfortunately, do fortune cookies come with your check. If they did, it’s likely your fortune would read YOU WILL BE BACK FOR MORE SOUP SOON.

Noodle Alcove, at 10 Tyler Street, in Boston, is open Sunday through Thursday, from 10:30 a.m. to midnight, and Friday and Saturday, until 12:30 a.m. Call (617) 542-5857.


Issue Date: November 5 - 11, 2004
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