Destination Food: Xi'an

And so, with a very long work push and many miles, takeoffs and landings beneath my belt, it is time to return to my roots. The core. Why I started this blog in the first place. Food. Inspiring. Eclectic. Wallet-friendly and no reservations required. Stamping out hunger while fueling creativity. First stop? A mid-January lunch on St. Mark's Place.

Like every food discovery I have ever made, it begins with a clipping, usually a handful of sentences at best, ripped from the pages of the Times dining section, Food & Wine, New York magazine, or of late, the New Yorker, whose front-of-book writing and layouts are as tasty as some of the places they write about.

My older son and I discovered this place a few years ago on a father/son movie date at the Sunshine (a taste of indie heaven!). The flick was "The Spectacular Now" (the early work of Shailene Woodley and Whiplash's incredible Miles Teller). The noodles? They breathe life into the words "hand pulled."

The rest, as duly noted, is self-evident...