Noodle Man offers satisfying food at bargain prices

Real Asian noodles — to which those crispy fried things dumped out of a can bear no comparison — are gratifyingly easy to find in Southern Nevada these days, from noodle houses to ramen places and Asian restaurants of all description. There's an added entertainment factor (not to mention a quantum leap in quality) when the noodles are made by hand, as they are in a few places on the Strip and in Chinatown. In the suburbs, though, fresh, hand-made noodles are a little more difficult to come by, which is part of what makes The Noodle Man such a find.

The Noodle Man has a partly glass-enclosed, partly open kitchen, which means even reasonably observant guests (but especially those seated at the bar) can watch as dough is stretched and twisted, then cut with a shavelike motion to fall into a large vessel of simmering water. Noodles made this way tend to be, like anything made by hand, sort of inconsistent in shape and size, and that and their inherently chewy nature make them the perfect foil for slurping up one of the many treatments on The Noodle Man's menu.

For us — since the spicy chicken curry wasn't available that evening — that would be sliced pork and mushrooms ($8), of which both the name and the price belied the levels of complexity in flavor and texture. The pork was in the form of pork belly, which was not so much sliced but sort of in chunks, soft and chewy and rather rich, in light of the fat-to-meat ratio of the average pork belly. The mushrooms were not only in great profusion but also in satisfying variety, king oyster and black and the less familiar Hon Shimeji, with its flavor that hints of shellfish. Add to that black fungus with its sort of floppy texture, plus brothy liquid to pull it all together, and you have quite the creation.

Tomato and egg ($8) was more simple but no less satisfying, in flavor but not texture surprisingly reminiscent of the tomato chow mein old-timers may remember from the late lamented Huntridge Drug lunch counter. We chose rice with this one, and the simple mixture of tomato, spinach and black fungus, enriched with egg and sparked with green onion, was refreshingly offbeat.

Those two dishes were relatively mild in heat — just as we'd wanted — but the Hot Pepper Shredded Chicken Chow Mein ($8), marked with a little red pepper on the menu, kicked things up quite a few notches. The chicken had been sauteed with cabbage, onion and bean sprouts before being mixed with egg and served on sort of springy noodles and was tossed with enough jalapeno to make its presence quite clearly known.

Mongolian beef pancakes ($5), minced beef, onion and scallions encased in a middle-weight dough and cut in half, were well flavored but greasy, the juices running a little too freely.

Fried gyoza-style dumplings ($6), aka potstickers, were much better. We chose the pork and leek (chicken with mushroom and beef with green onion were other options) and there was enough leek to liven up the pork without overpowering it. The dumplings had been properly pan-fried, unlike in other kitchens where they throw them in the fryer to save time.

But then The Noodle Man isn't the sort of place to cut corners to save time. Alcoholic drinks are not available, but there's a whole range of Asian teas, and the pudding milk tea, iced green tea and lychee black tea all were refreshing, on a lot of levels, in the Southern Nevada summer heat.

Service was good, with food and drink promptly delivered by whomever apparently was available, although the timing was a little odd, the dumplings arriving after everything else. The chow mein also arrived far before the other noodle dishes, but since The Noodle Man sets each place with bowl, ladle and chopsticks, it's easy to share.

We also liked the decor, strip-center simple but very attractive, with accents like old-time abacuses, brass bells and the like.

A friend tipped us to The Noodle Man, and we sure are grateful. This is the sort of offbeat, off-the-beaten path spot that so enriches Las Vegas' dining panoply.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. Email Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and bestoflasvegas.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.