Casa de TArt | The Quest for the Best Beef Noodle Soup in the Bay Area
I am on a quest. I am determined to find the best beef noodle soup in the San Francisco Bay Area, and I will eat a hundred bowls of noodles if I must!
Beef Noodle Soup, (niu rou mian in Mandarin), is a traditional Taiwanese dish. It’s my comfort food, and it’s one of my favorite meals that my mom would frequently make while I was growing up. Of course I will always love my mom’s rendition, but barring that, I’ve been searching for a suitable replacement out here in Northern California.
Stop #1 was Izzo Restaurant in San Jose, which I rated 4.5/5. Here’s stop #2, “Casa de TArt!”
Unfortunately for the vast majority of you, despite its central location in San Francisco, Casa de TArt is not a restaurant. It’s my friends Theresa and Arthur’s place. (T for Theresa + Art for Arthur… it took me forever to make that connection).
When they heard about my beef noodle soup quest, they invited me over for their homemade version! So while most of you won’t be able to try it yourselves, you can take a peek here! First of all, I was so impressed that they make their own noodles from scratch. Arthur says it’s not as hard as you’d think– just flour and water!
Most of the soup had already been prepped the night before. The key to their soup is that they brew the broth and the meat separately, so as not to lose flavor in the meat.
The finished bowl of beef noodle soup: The broth was tasty, though Theresa says it’s not their best rendition. The beef was very tender and flavorful, and I still just love that they made their own noodles, though they do run the risk of getting soggy because of how much they absorb the soup. But overall, it was pretty great for a homemade rendition, and I’ve made a new habit of inviting myself over to Casa de TArt for dinner…
In part two of my Casa de TArt adventures, I returned the next day with ingredients from my Blue Apron meal that week. Blue Apron is a meal box service in which they send you all the ingredients, properly measured out, along with the instructions needed to create three meals per week. They happened to have a “beef ramen noodle soup” in the box this week… so while it’s not quite Taiwanese beef noodle soup, we thought we would make it anyway!
The finished bowl: not quite ramen, not quite beef noodle soup. But not bad! Pretty tasty and simple. You can find more info on Blue Apron here and the full recipe to this meal here.
The Quest for the Beef Noodle Soup in the Bay Area!
1. Izzo Restaurant, San Jose: 4.5 / 5
2. Casa de Tart (not a restaurant)
Anna Wu is a wedding and portrait photographer based in San Francisco but often jetsetting and eating her way around the world. Read more on her blog or follow her on facebook for more photography and travel adventures.
