Noodle Kaboodle
If Kansas City’s Dave Merola has his way, the traditional Thai noodle dish pad Thai — a stir-fry of cellophane noodles, chopped peanuts, egg, bean sprouts, cabbage and scallions — will become as familiar to local diners as, say, a double cheeseburger and fries. Merola, who owns six Wendy’s Old-Fashioned Hamburgers franchises, has signed an agreement with Colorado-based Noodles & Company to open eleven of the fast-casual noodle shops in the metro area — and not just in the suburbs. “The concept fits in just about anywhere,” Merola says.
Busy strip centers likely will be at the top of Merola’s list, but he hasn’t named a location for Kansas City’s first outpost of the 9-year-old restaurant chain, which has 82 locations in 9 states.
Ordering pad Thai at a restaurant like the Arun Thai Place Grill is one thing, but Kansas City diners were resistant to another “international house of pasta” concept. Semolina, a full-service restaurant that offered a range of middlebrow versions of ethnic and home-style noodle dishes, bombed in the suburbs a few years ago. The Overland Park Semolina is now Hannah Bistro (7070 West 105th Street).
Noodles & Company restaurants aren’t full-service operations, though. Diners order at a counter and “within three to five minutes, someone brings your dinner to you,” company spokesperson Kelly Pascal Gould says. “And we use real china bowls and real metal flatware.”
That’s a plus — I believe that locals finally said chop phooey to the Minneapolis-based Leeann Chin restaurants not only because the food stunk but also because it wasn’t easy to eat orange beef with plastic forks.
“I think Noodles & Company has done a great job in taking the quick-casual concept a step further from what most diners envision as fast food,” Merola says. “And we offer a broad range of noodle dishes, from spicy ethnic fare to comfort food like macaroni and cheese.”
The real draw will probably be the prices, which start at about $5.50 for a basic pad Thai or pasta fresca and can get more expensive with additional add-ons, such as grilled chicken ($1.75), organic tofu ($1.45), chopped red peppers or broccoli (75 cents each).
Not all the choices are cosmopolitan in flavor. There are two kinds of dessert: Rice Krispies Treats and cookies. What, no Frosty?
