Noodles & Company

Noodles & Company
825 Goucher Blvd.
Towson, MD 21286
1/5/11

Tapping into America's obsession with mass carbicide, Noodles and Company has built a 250+ unit empire across almost 20 states on a foundation of already cliched American, Mediterranean, and Asian-inspired pasta and noodle dishes.

Noodles and Company attempts to bring international flavors to suburbia, but deeming this effort would be like calling the International House of Pancakes the United Nations Ambassador of Breakfast: a faulty and inevitably mistake-prone analogy.
On a return trip to Baltimore, I stopped by the Towson location for a late afternoon lunch. I'm not a fine dining snob by any means, but I certainly didn't have high (or any) expectations for a chain-restaurant where one line cook churns out dishes as diverse as Penne Rossa, Japanese Pan Noodles, and Mushroom Stroganoff.

Out of sheer carb-induced curiosity, we decided to sample Asia (Pad Thai), Italy (Pesto Cavatappi), and the Heartland (Wisconsin Mac & Cheese). The Pad Thai had a metallic, sugary glaze, a syrupy reduction of my cumulative disappointment with cheap Thai takeout. The Pesto Cavatappi was a little better; although I appreciated that it was heavy on the parmesan, nevertheless, it was light on the basil and pine nuts. The Mac & Cheese was a surprising high note, with the cheesy pasta and herb-inflected meatballs nostalgically reminding me of the pallid Marie Callendar TV-dinners that I used to wolf down as a latch-key kid.

What impressed me though was the modern interior design and the efficient service. Within minutes of ordering, the line cook delivered a seemingly palatable noodle dish from the immaculate, stainless steel kitchen directly to the table. The restaurant was enjoyable to sit in: with deep, roomy banquettes and minimalist chairs, it looked like a larger, airier, version of Chipotle or a comfortable airport lounge.