Another Biang Biang Noodle Stall in NYC

choi

Ligaya Mishan (food critic), The Sound of Great Noodles; The dishes in a tiny market stall are a truly stand-up treat. New York Times, Jan 18, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/ ... rket-manhattan.html

Quote:

" 'Biang biang' is both the sound of the snapping and the name of the noodles made at Very Fresh Noodles, opened last February by Peter Tondreau and Victor Huang. The noodles' origins go back to Shaanxi Province in northwestern China. Many New Yorkers know them from Xi'an Famous Foods 西安名吃, a growing chain that got its start in a stall in a basement food court in Flushing, Queens, and now has outposts across Manhattan.

"Made with high-protein flour for pliability, the noodles are at once elastic and dense, just short of al dente, demanding more of the teeth. In Mandarin, this quality is called jiao jing, sometimes translated from Mandarin as 'chew power.' To the Taiwanese, it's QQ: 'chewy-chewy.'

"Mr Huang, 32, the chef, is the Californian-born son of Taishanese immigrants from Guangdong Province. Mr Tondreau, 35 * * * was adopted at 4 months old from South Korea by parents of French-Czechoslovak descent, and grew up in Los Angeles.

"Too bad there's nowhere to sit [patrons eat while standing]. Sadly, putting in stools would be a fire hazard [hard to escape in case of fire].

My comment:
(a) This review is succinct. There is, however, no need to read the rest.
(b)
(i) al dente (adj; etymology)
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/al%20dente
(ii) In US, "al dente" is associated only with pasta -- specially, how long to cook pasta. Ordinary Joes know this term (only in this context).
(c) In fact, it is "Q" -- no Chinese representation.  "QQ" is baby talk.
(d) The fourth and last quotation explains the subtitle ("stand-up treat").