We Stumbled Into an Eating Adventure

Yesterday, we were out and about shopping for accessories for an upcoming wedding that we're attending. WE'd bought the outfits the day before (there's another blog on that coming - I bought a green dress so that Covid definitely affected more than just my snot centers - I normally HATE green - but this dress is a STATEMENT and I fell in love). 

So we were doing some classic adventure moves, kind of just exploring aimlessly and stopping in at places with cool names. That's how we found Mickey's suit the previous day (way up there on the "elevated pimp" scale, btw _ I am excited to show you our lewks together) so we thought we might find similar accessory success. 

Spoiler alert - we did not.

However, there was one point in our journey yesterday where we were in a more industrial area of town. If we see one, Mickey will maneuver the car as close as possible to the forbidden amusement parks that I am so enamored with. Yesterday was no different. 

So I were bopping along in the passenger seat looking at massive amounts of gigantic industrial equipment when I saw it. 

Well, I didn't exactly *see* it at first because I had just taken a hit on my ouid pen and these terpene bois not only keep my brain from spinning out of control when I get all spun up, but they also release an embarrassingly dudebro amount of vapor. 

So, I had just let out a big cloud when I saw it. 

A small inconspicuous sign at the top of a tiny building that said, "noodles".

I wildly waved my arm around trying to clear the vape. 

And then I was able to clearly see the word "noodles" but could also make out a visually pleasing single letter. 

A J. 

"J... noodles?" My brain turned this over as we drove past. 

Then my brain registered the rest of the letters on the rest of the signage. 

Johnny Noodle King!

"Johnny Noodle King!!" I loudly yelped. 

Mickey, who had no idea of the drama that had just been happening in my head, asked, "So, is that where we're eating lunch."

And, fuck my brain, because my first instinct was to say "No" because we would have to turn the car around to eat there. 

On an empty road. 

No traffic in either direction. 

So, of course, I didn't listen and instead said, "yes, please!!!!!!"

While parking, we saw the most amazing collection of weirdos leaving the place. 

In the best way. We saw a full on furry leaving with a pastel goth cheerleader with ears and a tail. And others dressed in a way that can only be described as wholly for themselves. They looked comfortable. They looked happy. And I wanted to eat at the place that had them leaving like that. 

Once inside, it was a dark hole of a place, full of smells and sounds and sights.

The best kind for my brain. (p.s. obviously that is not my pic. I yeeted it from the "Johnny Noodle King" facebook. Thank to them for that.)

The smells were deep and dark. The sounds were clangy and kitchen-y with an undercurrent of constant hip hop. And it looked like a place where I could not wait to eat. 

We didn't have to wait long (less than five minutes) for what I considered to be the best seats in the house - right at the bar looking into the open kitchen. And that kitchen was bustlin; (in case you were wondering, I pronounced that like I do "bussin'"). There were, like, four giant stock pots simmering along, a giant noodle dropping station and a small set of burners that were ALWAYS making something delicious-looking. 

And then there was the fella at the prep station, endlessly cutting chives. Like, when I say endlessly, as far as I know - that's the truth! They were currin' chive when I arrived and they were still doing it when I left. 

Honestly, I was kind of like a movie set in there, if I'm being honest. 

Ordering was easy, because the menu was small. We got lobster rangoon (!) (pictured below).

It was impeccable, tbh. It will be extremely difficult to go back to regular old crab rangoon. Well, also, I haven't found a chinese restaurant that I really love up here yet. 

But after this experience, I have found a noodle shop. 

Now, I will be honest, once I saw that there were both "Burnt Garlic" and "Butter Noodle" options, I didn't look at the rest of the menu. 

I didn't fucking need to. 

The noods were on POINT, y'all.

These are my garlic bois. 

They were steamy and flavorful and umami as all get out. And the noodles themselves were slippery yet firm, a real win in my book. 

These are the butter noodles that I asked Mickey to order:

And they were equally amazing. I like that we got to try both the drys and the wets and you know what's even better?

We took home leftovers. We plopped the drys in the wets and brought them home. There were no rangoons leftover, of course. 

And then the other day we got Polish food and I had some sausage leftover. 

So you know what I did yesterday? I cut up the sausage and plopped it into the noods and at it all up. 

It was incredible.