After 10 long years, NoodleFest finally returned to its Chinatown and North Beach neighborhoods to revive a friendly culinary competition that made San Francisco history.
On Saturday, April 30th, several locals flocked to the intersection of these two long standing communities between Green Street and Pacific Avenue to sample over 30 restaurant vendors serving up all things noodles.
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From Italian raviolis and pastas to Asian dumplings and Nepalese-style fried noodle dishes, this showcasing of all the major noodle-centric countries provided not only the fun lighthearted rivalry expected from NoodleFest, but also signaled great success for the return of many businesses since Covid.
A few of the several merchants in attendance were Bund Shanghai with their Shanghai Noodle & Spicy Wonton, Sam Wo Restaurant delivering exquisite BBQ Pork Noodle Rolls, Portofino with unique Squid Ink Ravioli, Sotto Mare Seafood serving fresh Seafood Linguine.
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“We are celebrating the far east meeting the wild west, around the culture of food that brings us all together” said district supervisor Aaron Peskin at the formal Noodle Fest announcement last Friday.
Amy Zhou from Chinatown’s Community Development Center also gleefully stated, “There is a desire to have people back onto the street and partaking in some really joyful eating and celebration. “It’s also the COVID-19 recovery, which is two years old and really hit these merchants in both of these neighborhoods really hard. April 30 is also the day right before Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and I think that’s also important to show that North Beach and Chinatown are back.”
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Tony's Pizza cheerfully served up their housemade bucatini and pasta Genovese to their hungry patrons.
Supported by both the North Beach Business Association and Chinatown Community Development Center, this gourmet event was more celebratory than competition, revering the two communities’ historical camaraderie and cultural exchange within San Francisco’s diverse hub.
“We’re serving my favorite Hong Kong Pan Fried Noodles. It’s crispy. it’s got lots of texture," explained China Live chef George Chen. All the hungry attendees were given a “noodle passport” to sample all the businesses, twirling, slurping, and munching their way across the global offerings of the savory dough made and cooked in every form possible.
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The main attraction, however, was the competition, which was fittingly judged by three of the best figures in this culinary department- celebrity chef Martin Yan, SF Chronicle’s premiere food critic Soleil Ho, and the San Francisco budget friendly expert Broke-Ass Stuart.
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There was also music from live bands near the significant Cafe Vesuvio, and overall the delectable 2-hour event was a success for both all the restaurants kindly serving from their booths, and for the for the city itself.
As a superb way to promote the local businesses and stimulate economic recovery for the city, we hope we won’t have to wait another decade to get our cultural carb feast on!
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Photography by: Saranjeet Singh/Unsplash
