2009 Fall Dining Guide By Tom Sietsema Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009 To navigate a menu that runs from pumpkin cakes to pork blood soup, and from tea-smoked duck to fish head casserole -- more than 250 dishes altogether -- even an experienced Chinese hand could use some guidance. At Michael's Noodles in Rockville, the expert in the house is Wai Wang, the restaurant's general manager. Tell her your preferences, and she's likely to suggest plates heaped with pleasure: peppery sauteed pork and bean curd, perhaps, or a robust beef noodle soup elevated by wheat noodles that are made right there. The kitchen employs four chefs: one from Taiwan and the others from Sichuan province. Unlike so much of the competition, they cook with a light touch. Sauces show care, and oiliness is kept to a minimum (but garlic is used with a generous hand, as with an appetizer of crunchy peanuts, minced hot peppers and thread-thin little fish). From the outside, this shopping-strip shoebox doesn't look like much. Inside, a handsome Chinese mural and an immediate welcome of fragrant tea reveal more style. But the real draw for some of us is Wang the Good Hostess and whatever suggestions she drops off. If only she could be cloned!
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