Stretch the Noodle is a restaurant in
Portland, Oregon
Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...
.
Description
Stretch the Noodle, most known for serving
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...
-style hand-stretched noodles, operates from a
food cart
A food cart is a mobile kitchen set up on the street to prepare and sell street food to passers-by. Food carts are often found in cities worldwide selling food of every kind.
Food carts come in two basic styles. One allows the vendor to sit ...
in
downtown Portland
Downtown Portland is the city center of Portland, Oregon, United States. It is on the west bank of the Willamette River in the northeastern corner of the southwest section of the city and where most of the city's high-rise buildings are found ...
's Third Avenue Food Cart Pod, near the
Morrison Bridge
The Morrison Bridge is a bascule bridge that spans the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. Completed in 1958, it is the third bridge at approximately the same site to carry that name. It is one of the most heavily used bridges in Portland. It ...
. In 2018, Andrea Damewood of the ''
Portland Mercury
''Portland Mercury'' is an alternative bi-weekly newspaper and media company founded in 2000 in Portland, Oregon. It has a sibling publication in Seattle, Washington, called '' The Stranger''.
Contributors and staff
Editor-in-chief: Wm. Steven ...
'' described Stretch the Noodle as an "unassuming cart with a chalkboard menu and a small speaker playing tinny Chinese music on Southwest Washington".
The pale yellow food cart has hand-pulled noodle illustrations on the side.
The ''chao mian'' has fried Ota
tofu
Tofu (), also known as bean curd in English, is a food prepared by coagulating soy milk and then pressing the resulting curds into solid white blocks of varying softness; it can be ''silken'', ''soft'', ''firm'', ''extra firm'' or ''super f ...
, bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, and onions.
Various noodle options also include
chili oil
Chili oil is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with chili peppers. Different types of oil and hot peppers are used, and other components may also be included. It is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, Southeast Asian cuisi ...
, herbs, and minced pork as ingredients. Beef soup, Chinese crepes (''
jianbing
''Jianbing'' () is a traditional Chinese street food similar to crêpes. It is a type of ''bing'' generally eaten for breakfast and hailed as "one of China's most popular street breakfasts". The main ingredients of ''jianbing'' are a batter o ...
)'',
dumplings
Dumpling is a broad class of dishes that consist of pieces of dough (made from a variety of starch sources), oftentimes wrapped around a filling. The dough can be based on bread, flour, buckwheat or potatoes, and may be filled with meat, fish ...
(including pork and shrimp), and
stir fries have also been on the menu.
The ''la mian'' noodles in Sichuan beef soup has braised beef,
bok choy
Bok choy (American English, Canadian English, and Australian English), pak choi (British English) or pok choi (''Brassica rapa'' subsp. ''chinensis'') is a type of Chinese cabbage, used as food. ''Chinensis'' varieties do not form heads and have ...
, and a
broth
Broth, also known as bouillon (), is a savory liquid made of water in which meat, fish or vegetables have been simmered for a short period of time. It can be eaten alone, but it is most commonly used to prepare other dishes, such as soups, ...
of
five-spice powder
Five-spice powder () is a spice mixture of five or more spices used predominantly in almost all branches of Chinese cuisine. It is also used in Hawaiian cuisine and Vietnamese cuisine. The five flavors of the spices (sweet, bitter, sour, sa ...
and simmered bones.
History
Xuemei Simard, who studied the technique of noodle pulling, is a co-owner with her husband Duane.
Reception
In 2018, Michael Russell of ''
The Oregonian
''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...
'' included Stretch the Noodle in a list of "Portland's best new food carts", and ranked the restaurant number four in the newspaper's list of "Portland's best hand-pulled noodles".
In 2019, the ''Portland Mercury'' included Stretch the Noodle in a list of the city's 50 best multicultural restaurants and food carts, and
''Time Out'''s Jen Woo included the business in an overview of "the best food trucks in Portland to get your grub on".
Jenni Moore of ''
Eater Portland
''Eater'' is a food website by Vox Media. It was co-founded by Lockhart Steele and Ben Leventhal in 2005, and originally focused on dining and nightlife in New York City. Eater launched a national site in 2009, and covered nearly 20 cities by ...
'' included the chao mian in a 2020 list of 13 "standout"
vegetarian
Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter.
Vegetariani ...
meals in Portland.
The website's staff included Stretch the Noodle in a 2021 overview "Where to Eat and Drink in Downtown Portland",
and Nick Woo and Brooke Jackson-Glidden included the business in a 2022 "Guide to Portland's Most Outstanding Food Carts".
The business was also included in ''Eater Portland''
's 2022 overview of "Where to Eat and Drink in Downtown Portland".
The
Vancouver Sun
The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
's Dave Pottinger recommended Stretch the Noodle as a Portland eatery in his 2021 overview of reasons to visit Oregon. He said the restaurant's noodles "are so popular they attract a steady line". Katherine Chew Hamilton of ''
Portland Monthly
''Portland Monthly'' (also referred to as ''Portland Monthly Magazine'') is a monthly news and general interest magazine which covers food, politics, business, design, events and culture in Portland, Oregon. The magazine was co-founded in 2003 b ...
'' included Stretch the Noodle for lunch in
northwest Portland
Northwest Portland is one of the sextants of Portland, Oregon, United States.
Northwest Portland includes the Pearl District, most of Old Town Chinatown, the Northwest District, and various residential and industrial neighborhoods. A range of ...
. Zuri Anderson ranked the business number four in
iHeart
iHeartRadio (often shortened to just "iHeart") is an American freemium broadcast, podcast and radio streaming platform owned by iHeartMedia. It was founded in August 2008. , iHeartRadio was functioning as the national umbrella brand for iHear ...
's 2022 list of the highest-rated Portland restaurants for cheap eats.
See also
*
History of Chinese Americans in Portland, Oregon
According to ''The Oregonian'', 18,000 (7.5 percent) of the Portland metropolitan area's 135,000 Asian/Pacific residents live along 82nd Avenue, in an area dubbed New Chinatown, as of 2012.
Old Town Chinatown features the Lan Su Chinese Garde ...
*
List of Chinese restaurants
This is a list of notable Chinese restaurants. A Chinese restaurant is an establishment that serves Chinese cuisine outside China. Some have distinctive styles, as with American Chinese cuisine and Canadian Chinese cuisine. Most of them are in th ...
References
External links
*
{{Restaurants in Portland, Oregon
Chinese restaurants in Portland, Oregon
Food carts in Portland, Oregon
Southwest Portland, Oregon