Pull Up a Chair at... Noodles & Company

Every now and then, as I’m flipping channels, I land on that TV show that shows you what and where the Food Network stars like to eat, The Best Thing I Ever Ate. I usually watch for a little while and make mental notes about where to eat if I’m ever in the cities they’re promoting. 

I thought for the longest time that the chicken burrito with queso sauce from On the Border was my favorite meal of all time. I’m sure OTB has other tasty dishes but I wouldn’t know. I got the chicken burrito on my first visit and have not strayed since. Not once. When something works for me, I tend to stick with it. Creature of habit, I guess. The chicken burrito with queso was the meal I’d choose if I could choose anything in the world to eat… or it used to be anyway.

Move over chicken burrito, you’ve been replaced.

Noodles & Company in Cameron Village offers a wide range of noodle dishes with flavors from all over the world. The dishes come in two sizes so if you order the “regular”, come hungry. Today, like always, I got the small Penne Rosa which is perfectly cooked penne pasta with mushrooms and spinach, topped with parmesan cheese-crusted chicken. I was full, but not miserable, and I skipped dinner because I was just not hungry.  There will probably be a bowl of ice cream in my future though; Penne Rosa is good but it can’t replace a bedtime snack. J

(Apologies for the photo, this was mid-eat. It was much prettier {but the same amount of tasty} when it arrived at the table, before I stirred it all up.)

The fun thing about Noodles & Company is that they offer noodle combinations you wouldn’t normally imagine: they suggest you get meatballs in your macaroni and cheese and while that sounds odd to me, the people who get it swear that meatballs no longer belong “On Top of Spaghetti” (does anyone remember that song from elementary school?). If you’re adventurous, you can go off the menu to mix and match noodles and sauces to make a signature dish of your own. The prices are a tiny bit high for lunch but are very much worth it for a mid-week treat. I believe my penne with chicken and a drink cost eight dollars.

Another thing I like about Noodles & Company is that you order at the counter but they bring your food and utensils to your table. Call me strange or whatever but there’s just something I don’t enjoy about carrying a tray to the table. It’s not that I’m above the manual labor of carrying my own tray, it’s that the trays make lunch feel like I’m back in the junior high cafeteria and let’s just be honest, no one wants to relive those awkward days.

Noodles & Company tends to get crowded so come early (they open at 11a.m.) and if it’s nice weather, you can grab a table outside under one of their huge red umbrellas. If you see us there, you're more than welcome to pull up a chair... but keep your fork far far away from my Penne Rosa.