Where to find yummy noodles in Flagstaff

Karma's Ramen

Noodles are a beloved staple in diets across the world. They come in many textures, made of a variety of bases depending on where you are. World-FoodHistory.com says the first noodles in history can be traced back to the Middle East in 5000 BC. That was a wheat noodle. Fast forward to the year 300 when the Chinese form their first version of noodles. Chinese noodles spread to Japan a few hundred years later. Then, as the story goes, Marco Polo brought back noodles to Italy in the late 13th century after a trip to China. And the love of these little strings of filling-goodness continued to spread across the globe becoming the food we now love with the multicultural background and wide variety of tastes. Here in Flagstaff, we have delish noodles in styles form across the globe. Here’s a sampling…

Pasto Cucina Italiano
19 E Aspen
Pasto makes their own pastas fresh in house. In many cases they use heirloom grains, then grind it in house to make the flour that they then turn into their homemade pastas!
Pasto has several types to try like spaghettini, which means “little strings” of pasta; pennette, meaning “little quills”; tagliatelle, which is spinach ribbons. These are served with a variety of their housemade sauces and other fine ingredients. Everything I’ve tried here I’ve enjoyed, so I don’t think you can go wrong with your noodle pick!

Pato Thai Cuisine
104 N San Francisco
Representing the plethora of top-notch Thai noodles in town are the dishes of Pato. They have the delicious classic Pad Thai, of course, which is served with a spicy sauce, ground peanuts, meat, bean sprouts and egg. They also have Pad-see-Eew, Kai Kua (a pan fried flat rice noodle with egg, bean sprout and peanut served on lettuce), Chow Mein (a stir fired egg noodle), Suki Yaki (a glass noodle soup with chicken, squid, shrimp), Rad Nar (a rice noodle with broccoli and carrots in a gravy sauce), Pad Woon Sen (a stir fried silver noodle) and Spicy Noodle (a flat noodle with pepper, onion, celery, basil, tomato and chili paste).

Karma
6 E Route 66
Karma takes on the traditional Japanese ramen dish... that’s nothing like those little packets of noodles with flavor packets you can buy for a quarter. Ramen traditionally features Chinese style wheat noodles served in a soy or miso flavored broth with pork or fish. Karma serves it up with pork or chicken plus a boiled egg. This is a delightfully different and filling dish, served in a nice sized bowl.

Taverna Greek Grille
2420 S Woodlands Village
If you want to go Greek with your noodles, Taverna has several options for “zymarika” (the Greek word for pastas). Try the Seafood Pasta Salad, made like many traditional Greek pasta recipes with shrimp and fish. This one has penne tossed in Greek dressing then mixed with grilled salmon, shrimp, kalamata olives, red peppers, red onions, tomatoes, pepperoncini and feta cheese.

Golden Dragon
2730 E Lakin Dr (off Steves Blvd)
Golden Dragon has several types of noodle dishes. They include several varieties of the classics… Lo Mein (which translates to “tossed noodles,” meaning string-like egg noodles tossed in a light sauce with meats and/or veggies) and Chow Fun (with wide rice noodles, meat and sauce) noodle plus Pan Fried Noodles (thin angel hair-like wheat-based noodles that are fried a bit crunchy and served with meat and sauce), Singapore Rice Noodles (which have a curry sauce) and Taiwanese Rice Noodles.