At the top of the year, I ate bowls upon bowls of Lanzhou beef noodle soup from over half a dozen specialists in Los Angeles while trying to wrap my mind and palate around the Hot Dish for a feature on Eater LA. With its ropey, hand-pulled noodles and gorgeously clear broth, I never tired of the noodle soup even though I ate it for weeks on end.

Still, on occasions when I was dining out slash researching with a companion or two in tow, I took the opportunity to taste other specialties on the menu. Below are the best of the b-sides. Mmm…

Though the Lanzhou beef noodle soup at Lanzhou Noodle House in Walnut was one of the weakest that I sampled, its cold fried tofu appetizer was terrific, with a generous slicking of chile oil and light crusting of sesame seeds.

At LAN Noodle in Arcadia, The Astronomer and I were taken aback by the seemingly simple scallion noodles. Whereas scallion noodles are usually stir-fried quite straightforwardly with soy sauce and scallions, the ones at LAN arrived in a shallow soy sauce broth with crisped and browned green onions heaped on top. The dish’s innovative composition and nuanced flavors gave the famed beef noodle soup a run for its money.