vip in the city

Super Taste-y noodles — again

Met J at the spa after work tonight. Over the past several years, it remains one of the few things we will still do together, just the two of us. It’s probably what I like most about the outings.

I emerged from the facial shiny-faced and damp-haired, but refreshed. J left a pair of mooncakes in my bag for Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, but had to race out to meet C in Rockefeller Center, so I was on my own for the rest of the evening. SYB’s tentative rendezvous in Grand Central had fallen through, so he was still at his office in SoHo. Would I want to meet up for dinner?

Although I was not feeling particularly presentable, I agreed. We decided to hit our current favorite noodle shop in Chinatown.

Here, the Manhattan Bridge arch at Bowery and Canal, which SYB noted, is a pretty entrance to an ugly bridge. For the past several years, the bridge has been undergoing major rehabilitation, in preparation for its December 31, 2009 centennial celebration. The Manhattan Bridge was the third and last of the suspension bridges constructed across the East River (after the Brooklyn and Williamsburg Bridges.)

“Suspension Bridge Number 3” (as it was named in the original plans) was designed and built by Polish bridge engineer Ralph Modjeski, who also served as the chief engineer for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge (1926), which spans over the Delaware River between Camden and Philadelphia.

Back in the humble surrounds of Super Taste. Are they really, as the Village Voice’s Robert Sietsema declared, “maybe the best noodles of your life“? I don’t know, but they’re pretty damn good.

I didn’t get a shot of these sublime noodles the last time we were here, swimming in their disposable-quality white plastic bowls, under the just-too-bright flourescent lights. The restaurant still hasn’t replaced any of the English language signs; the wall-mounted red and yellow menu is still exclusively in Chinese, with the lone exception of the words “Hot & Spicy,” accompanied by a graphic of a chile pepper… instantly recognizable by anyone who has ever picked up a Chinese takeout menu. The symbol distinguishes Item #2, formerly known as “Hand-pull Noodle w. Beef in Hot & Spicy Soup.”