San Francisco Garlic Noodles

I once lived in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, an underrated gem along the Pacific Ocean. There were only a few dining options nearby, but we were lucky to have a famous Vietnamese restaurant, Thanh Long, just around the corner. They created a fusion dish that perfectly captures the multicultural nature of San Francisco. Legend has it that the cook, after trying pasta in North Beach (San Francisco's Italian neighborhood), found it bland but inspiring. She decided to add her own Vietnamese flavors and tons of garlic. (Recipes call for 20 cloves!) This unique dish quickly became a Bay Area favorite, spreading to other restaurants and homes.

Recently, this recipe gained popularity online, especially after Kenji Lopez-Alt, one of my favorite food writers, developed a recipe for the New York Times. You can watch Kenji’s tutorial here. 

I made a few tweaks to my taste. I found that I needed more of the Asian sauces to really represent the Vietnamese flavor. In effort to add some veggies to the meal, I added shitake mushrooms. Zucchini would be great here, too. Than Long serves these noodles as a side for seafood, and I think shrimp or crab would be a wonderful pairing. 

San Francisco Garlic Noodles
1/2 t salt

6 cups water
4 T butter
1 lb mushrooms (I like a mix containing shitake)
15-20 garlic cloves, minced or sliced (I only needed 15 because my cloves were big)
1 T plus 2 t oyster sauce (use a vegetarian version if you like)
1 T soy sauce
2 t fish sauce (substitute with more soy sauce to make it vegetarian)

1 lb dry spaghetti
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
handful of thinly sliced green onions

chili crisp for serving, optional

Bring about 6 cups of water and salt to a boil in a large saucepan, add spaghetti, and cook until al dente.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms, if using, and cook until golden. Add the garlic and sauté until softened, but not browned, about 2 minutes. Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, and fish sauce, and remove from heat.

Lightly drain the pasta, reserving some cooking liquid in case you need it. Add the pasta to the garlic sauce, increase the heat to high, and add Parmesan. Stir vigorously over high heat until the sauce is creamy and emulsified. If it looks too thin, keep cooking and stirring until it thickens up. If it looks too dry or clumpy, stir in more pasta water. Top with green onions and serve with chili crisp, optional. Serves 4.