Not going to take the bait on that old stereotype. LOL
Got around to trying this place today.
Clear broth beef noodles, seafood stir-fried noodles, lamb, mutton, and beef skewers. As well as as a selection cold appetizers - cucumbers, lotus root, shredded potato, and julienned seaweed.
Noodles, which were all hand-pulled, were ok. Broth in the beef noodle soup while savory was a bit flat and one dimensional. The stir fried noodles were nothing special. Skewers were fine, but begs for some marinading or seasoning. I guess that’s what condiments table-side are for.
Here’s what one should get at Green China Grill. Order up a bowl of just the noodles, no broth, no nothing, then get a selection of the cold apps (I would suggest the shredded potato, cucumbers, lotus root), and then toss it all together with the noodles, then drizzle with some soy sauce.
It’s better than anything on the menu
Green China Grill (aka “Old Place”)
4688 Convoy St
“It’s better than anything on the menu” - I wouldn’t call it a recommendation for the restaurant
I thought beef soup was pretty good for sd but also agree with your post. You’ve noted previously saying good for sd isn’t all that good when it comes to Chinese food.
Y’all need to get out to Village Kitchen.
Loved it! Comments here:
So, now there is a second hand-pulled noodle joint in SD (Xi’an) and they’re_ both_ in the same strip mall? Sheesh, San Diego is a funny place…
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Deckape!!!
Aloha babydoll…
So glad you found us!
BC welcomes you!
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Awww, shucks…thanks for the welcome, BC. Kinda like knockin’ around in an emptied house at that other place. Glad to see some personality over here. Missed your upbeat, sunny fun!
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Green China Grill and Xi’an aren’t really substitutes for one another, despite both being purveyors of hand pulled (or hand made) noodles.
The former features Lanzhou cooking, which is why their menu is rather limited (even with the recent new additions), and the only notable dish is the beef noodle soup, which is a Gansu/Lanzhou specialty.
Xi’an is also northern-centric, but with the focus on Beijing foodstuffs, and while they have noodle dishes, some of the more notable standpoints are non-noodle, wheat based items like the hamburger, even though the liang-pi and biang biang are worthy of some exploring.
All that said, this is nonetheless a good development for the Chinese food scene in SD. The fact that we are now talking about different specialties of Chinese food at a more granular level is nothing that shouldn’t be celebrated.
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I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Xi’an and look forward to Green China Grill. It’s just surprising that (all of a sudden) SD finds itself with its only two hand pulled noodle joints within steps of each other. I’m excited and thanks for the background, I’m weak in regard to ethnic Chinese cooking.
I checked out Green China Grill this evening. This place really lives up to its name: The walls are green, the chairs are green; the translucent water glasses are green; the servers were green shirts. Definitely green.
I ordered noodles with braised beef soup. There are two other beef noodle soups on the menu, one with spinach noodles and the other with sirloin. The noodles with my bowl were spaghetti-size, round white flour noodles, very long, custom made after the order was placed.
The noodles were fine, but nothing really special. They did taste very fresh, though; nice chew. The broth was, well, interesting. It was quite delicate, but with a pronounced spice in the forefront. Was that cinnamon, maybe? Meat was flavorful and tender, but there wasn’t much of it.
I think I’ll return at least once more and try the spinach noodle soup. They also have some grilled skewered things, like whole shrimps, lamb, and corn. (Corn? In China?)
I gotta get out more.
By the way, it was a coin toss between GCG and Xian Kitchen tonight. Maybe I’ll try your “do it yourself” noodle dish at Xian when I do go.
P.S. Ooops. Just noticed that the do it yourself dish was for GCG. Well, I missed out. Maybe that would work at Xian, too?
Anise, I think.
I don’t think so, RD. That’s one spice I think I’d recognize in soup broth, because I eat lots of pho (where it’s a key seasoning). This was sweeter than anise, which has more of a licorice flavor. I’m not good at identifying spices though.
Yes star anise
Am pretty sure but maybe ipsedixit or another can chime in.