Purveyors of the Korean-style Chinese specialty comfort food known as za zang myun, Zazang (2340 Geary at Baker) is a tiny but charming restaurant plunked down on an indiscriminate block of Geary lorded over by the Kaiser Permanente medical complex. Za zang myun could not-too-imprecisely be called the spaghetti of the east, consisting of a pile of chewy, hand-pulled wheat noodles served swimming in an sturdy, ink-black sauce made from beef broth, black bean paste (hence the color), vegetables and either pork or -- in the popular seafood version -- squid and shrimp. While the color can be off-putting, the sauce is very mellow, which is where, I suspect, the correlation to comfort food comes in. In fact, I usually require a nice big squirt of cock sauce (heh) to amp up the heat level. Also, the price is right: at $4.95, a steaming bowl of za zang myun is one of the better lunch deals in town. And while many Koreans would probably call me crazy for saying this, while I really, really love the namesake dish, it isn't the real reason I go to places like Zazang ... follow the jump to find out the shocking truth!
Behold my sweet, fried lover: tang su yuk ($9.95), an overflowing plate of deep fried pork chunks smothered in a perfectly tangy sweet and sour sauce studded with tantalizing pieces of lightly pickled cucumbers, carrots, onion, and pineapple.
Tang su yuk plays the hot high school slut to za zang myun's homely best friend. In a bind, you will always go running back to the friend, but goddamn if the slut isn't a hell of a lot more fun. Yes, in this metaphor you are a terrible, terrible person.
-- Brian Bernbaum
Err, it's "ja jang myun", at least here in Korea, and it's Korean-style Chinese!
Posted at: April 27, 2008 1:46 AM