Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Wide, thick ribbons of wavy, chewy goodness

Liang’s Kitchen has noodles

Sesame beef rolled in scallion pancakes. Add chili oil for extra joy.
Sesame beef rolled in scallion pancakes. Add chili oil for extra joy.
Place

Liang’s Kitchen

4681 Convoy Street, San Diego

Word of mouth finally reached me of a Convoy Street shop known for its hand-pulled noodles. Actually, of a California chain of restaurants called Liang’s Kitchen, named for its founder’s mother. Mama Liang reportedly learned to cook pan-Chinese styles in the 1950s, preparing food for military refugee camps in Taiwan following China’s civil war.

Mama Liang’s visage watches over her namesake restaurant.

I went for a weekday lunch with friends and found little crowd and plenty to chew on. While the décor didn’t offer much, the menus held a seemingly incongruous collection of pages, which included advertisements for car dealerships in other counties.

Sponsored
Sponsored
When ordering noodle soup at Liang’s, choose the lapian option

We started with sesame beef rolled up in scallion pancakes, a sweet ponzu-style sauce adding a little sweetness to its savory appeal. We all reached for the jar of richly oiled chili paste, which put the dish over the threshold into delicious. Just as deeply warm and even more succulent were wontons bathing in a bowl of chili-spiced onion oil.

This was just pregame. Recommended for first timers is the tāngmiàn, more easy to remember as soup noodles. The house specialty is the beef and beef tendon soup, but we settled for splitting an order of beef without the tendon. We also shared a minced-pork version. The menu offers a choice of noodles, “L” or “R,” and for me the choice is easy.

Hand-pulled noodle

In Chinese, “pulled noodles” translates to la mian. But at Liang’s, L stands for lapian, which may apparently also refer to wide or ripped noodles. In this case, repeatedly pulled dough is cut into wide, thick ribbons of slightly wavy, chewy goodness.

The beef and pork broths offered distinctly different flavors. The beef had a very slight pungent tang, while the pork read a little milder. The pork had a ground-meat texture, the beef more that of a roast. But it was all just a vessel for those toothsome lapian. Here’s hoping I never run out of noodle soups to try.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Next Article

Seals hook up with Beaver

Salty’s Escape is a Mexican-Style cerveza brewed with corn and puffed Jasmine rice
Sesame beef rolled in scallion pancakes. Add chili oil for extra joy.
Sesame beef rolled in scallion pancakes. Add chili oil for extra joy.
Place

Liang’s Kitchen

4681 Convoy Street, San Diego

Word of mouth finally reached me of a Convoy Street shop known for its hand-pulled noodles. Actually, of a California chain of restaurants called Liang’s Kitchen, named for its founder’s mother. Mama Liang reportedly learned to cook pan-Chinese styles in the 1950s, preparing food for military refugee camps in Taiwan following China’s civil war.

Mama Liang’s visage watches over her namesake restaurant.

I went for a weekday lunch with friends and found little crowd and plenty to chew on. While the décor didn’t offer much, the menus held a seemingly incongruous collection of pages, which included advertisements for car dealerships in other counties.

Sponsored
Sponsored
When ordering noodle soup at Liang’s, choose the lapian option

We started with sesame beef rolled up in scallion pancakes, a sweet ponzu-style sauce adding a little sweetness to its savory appeal. We all reached for the jar of richly oiled chili paste, which put the dish over the threshold into delicious. Just as deeply warm and even more succulent were wontons bathing in a bowl of chili-spiced onion oil.

This was just pregame. Recommended for first timers is the tāngmiàn, more easy to remember as soup noodles. The house specialty is the beef and beef tendon soup, but we settled for splitting an order of beef without the tendon. We also shared a minced-pork version. The menu offers a choice of noodles, “L” or “R,” and for me the choice is easy.

Hand-pulled noodle

In Chinese, “pulled noodles” translates to la mian. But at Liang’s, L stands for lapian, which may apparently also refer to wide or ripped noodles. In this case, repeatedly pulled dough is cut into wide, thick ribbons of slightly wavy, chewy goodness.

The beef and pork broths offered distinctly different flavors. The beef had a very slight pungent tang, while the pork read a little milder. The pork had a ground-meat texture, the beef more that of a roast. But it was all just a vessel for those toothsome lapian. Here’s hoping I never run out of noodle soups to try.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

OSHA rules wall falls our fault

Who, U.S.?
Next Article

Reader 1st place writing contest winner gets kudos

2nd place winner not so much
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.