I have more of an opportunity to go out to lunch with my new(ish) job in the Midtown area of Memphis. Most people who know me, know that going out to eat with my friends is probably in my in the top three in my list of things I absolutely love to do.
Recently, I had the opportunity to go out to lunch on a weekday afternoon with my friends A & J, who love to eat almost as much as I do. We decided to try out Noodle Doodle Do, which is the lunch time version of Do Sushi in the popular Cooper Young area of town. If you hit up Do in the evenings, you'll find one of the most extensive and innovative sushi menus around. If you stop by at lunch time, you'll find that, while they still serve limited sushi options, the menu centers around noodle bowls. Seeing that I love anything noodle-y, this seemed like the perfect choice.
A, J, and I each started our lunch with an appetizer. A selected crab rangoon, which was light and crispy, without being greasy and was served with the most wonderful sweet and spicy chile sauce. J got the crispy tofu; it was a nicely-portioned block of tofu that was served with a salad and tamarind dressing. The dressing was ridiculously tasty and had and the dish as a whole was a great combination of flavors. I chose the egg roll (because fried is delicious). Noodle Doodle Do's version has a lot of interesting items in it: daikon, long bean, tofu and pumpkin puree'. I wasn't too sure that I was going to like the combination, but it was so very, very tasty. It was served with a honey-based sauce that was a little too sweet. But, I just dipped my egg roll in the sauce on A's plate, and all was well.
J and I decided that we were going to go for noodle bowls since, for all intents and purposes, we were at a noodle house. A went for the sushi because he has no sense of adventure :). I got the chicken pho which was huge pile of rice noodles (yay!) in a lemongrass broth which a bunch of tasty veggies and a whole bunch of delicious. If you add a couple of spoonfuls of the mirin lime sauce, it takes it to a whole 'nother plane. If they don't give you the option for the soup add-ins, ask for them. The veggies still had some bite to them and the chicken was well cooked. Everything about this bowl of soup was absolutely delicious. J chose the kobe beef curry noodle soup which is just an impressive bowl of food. Egg noodles, veggies, tender slices of kobe beef in a spicy coconut curry broth. The soup was very complex with layers of flavor, and it had just enough heat to be interesting but didn't light me on fire (I don't have a high heat tolerance, but there is some spicy chile sauce available if it's too pansy for you.) I don't generally care for raw fish, so I didn't taste A's but he definitely stared longingly at J and my bowls of soup.
I was the only one who got dessert (but are you surprised?). I went for the black sticky rice pudding, because I like rice pudding and have never had it with black rice. This dish had some kind of sweet and salty sauce on it that offered a very nice contrast in flavor and some toasted crumbled nuts (Brazil nuts maybe?) on top for texture. The purplish tinge to the custard was a bit weird at first, but it didn't stop my spoon. I shared a little with A & J, but for the most part, I took care of it myself.
Final Impressions: Despite the fact there doesn't seem to be a website for Noodle Doodle Do or any other of Memphis restauranteur Karen Carrier's eateries (and you can read about that pet peeve here), you can info about Noodle Doodle Do on Urban Spoon (which is where the link below will take you) or Yelp and here, of course :) If you go for lunch, do yourself a favor and get one of the noodle bowls. You can get sushi any old time.
Tiffany's Favorite: This is tough...I'm going with the chicken pho.
Tiffany's Rating :) :) :) 1/2 out of :) :) :) :)
Noodle Doodle Do (Do Sushi)
964 South Cooper Street
Memphis, TN 38104
(901) 272-0830
Average Appetizer Price: $4-$6
Average Salad Price: $6-$10
Average Soup/Noodle Bowl Price: $7-$10
Average Dessert Price: $4-$6
Operating Hours (Noodle Doodle Do)
Tuesday-Saturday 11:30am-4:00pm
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