Hu Tieu de Nhat - Garden Grove, CA

Noodles. Different noodles. 

Textures mix in the #2 - Hu Tieu Mi Nam Vang as softer rice and chewier egg noodles entangle. Pork bits alternate between grainy, fatty, and crunch, topped off with tender shrimp. The dry version comes with a savory broth holding quail eggs and fish cake for an extra umami hit. Sip and dip and add bitter greens for extra oomph.

The first two are their signature, but it's the #5 - Dai Mi Nam Vang you'll remember. They look the same but taste quite different as the gelatinous clear noodles add another dimension, and this dish has a sweet finish that brings out more savory pork and shrimp notes. They're simple but far from simplistic, an entire adventure in flavor-savor all on their own. 

A surprising addition to last year's 101 best list given the modest nature of the place, one with which I 100% agree. A fantastic find, and I'm glad it fell off the list so I can enjoy it without a crowd. 

Pho Hong Long - Gardena

I hate to admit this; but I've never had good pho. All the broths I've tried are thin and forgettable, and it's a torturous taste, like a sneak preview to the unique powers of star anise, but a preview that barely scratches the surface.

Enter Pho Hong Long, recommended by my Vietnamese twin. Here they do the pho, and here they do it better.

The #19 Pho Tai Gan Sach is my usual, tender raw beef that cooks juicy-pink in the steaming broth, and my go-to mystery-meats, the soft tendon and tendrils of chewy tripe. The broth here is thick, a little bit creamy and cloudy with a deeper savory edge that tastes a lot more like tails, bone, and msg.

The #22 Pho Tai Gau is another fun choice with raw beef and fall-apart fat brisket.

This is more like it. I have yet to unlock the full power of pho, but at least I have an idea of how it's supposed to taste. Pho Hong Long is a definite step in the right direction, and it's worth the extra steps to Gardena.

Eboshi - Torrance

I saw so much of Sawtelle last weekend, but I skipped the ramen. So it was only a matter of time before I started craving the dish that makes Sawtelle special...Except there was no way I was going to brave all that traffic again.

Eboshi is much closer and much better than "close enough". The Nikumiso Ramen converted this shoyu hater to a shoyu tolerate-r, maybe even a shoyu appreciate-r. Subtlety isn't lost in Eboshi, and rather than being overrun by soy sauce, this broth had more of an underlying hint, which paired surprisingly well with spicy ground pork. The soy sauce actually lightened the heavier crumbles, and it kept the broth from being too heavy on a hot day.

The Mabo Ramen is the best of both worlds when you can't decide between a rice bowl or ramen because it's kind of a rice bowl in liquid form. The shoyu is the same, but adding a mabo-tofu to the ramen noodle mix is definitely the best kind of interesting.

For those who can't stomach soup, the Jaja Men is basically the Nikumiso Ramen minus the soup. Spicy ground pork spiffs up the softer, slicker noodles, and it's almost as good as my mama's zha jiang mian.

The ramen is a little different at Eboshi, but just because it's not on Sawtelle doesn't mean it doesn't measure up. The ground pork is a more concentrated alternative to chashu, and the stronger soy-based broths make a South Bay statement. I still can't say no to a good tonkotsu, and I still go crazy over kotteri, but if I'm feeling something noodly and close, Eboshi will do nicely.