올림픽칼국수 Olympic Noodle

🇰🇷 SOUTH KOREA
📍 4008 W. Olympic Blvd., Arlington Heights, Central Los Angeles
🅿️ Parking lot in back
🥤 No Alcohol

If you arrive by foot or bicycle for your first visit to kal-guksu specialist Olympic Noodle, you might fear that the shop is closed. The sidewalk and street facing side of the restaurant always appears a bit lazy, sometimes the gate is not even open in front of the doors if you show up near opening time. But of course this is Los Angeles and you are not a walk-in customer and have found your way to the small back parking lot and the main entrance from that side.

Once you come in the back door, you will see folks hunched over bowls of pale, milky broths with homemade knife-cut wheat flour noodles and what seems like a whole chicken's worth of meat, or a whole ocean of seafood. While the menu goes in quite a few directions, the six versions of these noodle soups are the reason many people come for their first time. In Los Angeles, business among non-Koreans tips up during the colder winter months, but Koreans (especially in Korea) prefer to eat this soup in the summer.

When you sit down and order, you will see a generous portion of their homemade kimchi (above) scooped from its home container near the kitchen and slid onto your table. This along with a small plate of pickled radish act as the meal's banchan, and both are delicious and work as complementary tastes to your meals. A pitcher of hot tea arrives at the table without asking as well, and everything you need besides the main course is now there.

As mentioned, most meals here will consist of an order of kal-guksu, literally meaning "knife noodles" in Korean, homemade noodles extruded by knife as the name suggests. And while in Korea people are usually enjoying these kal-guksu soups in the summer, in Los Angeles they become extra crave-worthy even with Koreans when the daytime highs are barely getting above 10°C and the forecast calls for rain.

The most basic order here is dak kal-guksu ($16.99, above), what the menu calls "Korean chicken noodle soup" in English. For those that may have grown up having cans of Campbell's opened up for them during sick days, the "Korean" in the title is the important part, a complex broth made with chicken bones and not over-salted. It is fine to eat the bowl as is, but the soup can and should be added to as desired with the condiments on the table and can be supplemented with kimchi in another popular option.

Besides these soups, you will also start to notice something else very popular here on your first visit and any additional meal. Many customers are hunched over bowls that arrive looking like a bowl of chocolate pudding, although the intense steam coming up from it hints at something else. This is actually a red bean soup, served with rice balls or rice balls and the addition of kal-guksu.

This is patjuk ($15.99, above, 팥죽), a thick porridge of red beans, here ordered with the kal-guksu because it is difficult to come to Olympic Noodle and not eat their famous noodles. While the kal-guksu soups are often enjoyed in summer, patjuk is definitely a warming bowl meant for wintertime. Unlike red bean desserts, this porridge is intensely savory and rich, and meant to be eaten with both the kimchi and pickled radish so as to cut through these qualities.

The rice balls initially at the bottom of the bowl are the surprise of the day, chewy like mochi and having every enjoyable touch of homemade food. You could be forgiven for not seeing the appeal of patjuk if it was not something that carried nostalgia as well, but even without memories it is worth trying at least once in your life.

Especially if you come with three or four (or more) people, an order of the steamed dumplings ($14.70, above) is a good idea for the table. You may be able to find better dumplings in the area, but these are satisfyingly stuffed with pork and greens and come in a huge portion of twelve. The condiment rack is fun to play with to make dips for your mandu, as well as adding them to soups.

Another fun share dish, and much better than expected is the spicy rice cakes ($15.99, below) which you can add ramyun or jjolmyeon to for an additional $3. Both the rice cakes and the fish cakes are top notch, and the spicy broth is very tasty. Steamed cabbage is interspersed for variety.

Olympic Noodle also makes an array of non-noodle soups, but these have not been spotted on any tables during multiple visits. These range from kimchi jjigae, seaweed soup, spicy beef, and beef ribs and cabbage soups. Depending how often the restaurant is returned to will probably determine whether you go for these on follow-up visits.

 

There is also a summer menu that has promise, with cold noodles in a paprika radish broth, a cold bean porridge with noodles, and one hot option of boiled chicken with ginseng. This last one comes with a price tag almost double the other soups on the menu, immediately creating interest and something to look forward to besides the warmer weather of summer.

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