When Noodles & Co., 232 State St., shut down its State Street location to renovate its space and expand its menu, most figured it would reopen as more of the same. But now, as Madison's favorite bowl of noodles unveils its new menu, there are two things glaringly missing from the additions: bowls and noodles.
There are still the old favorites, from the rich Wisconsin mac 'n' cheese to the always-tasty pesto cavatappi. Gone are the big, comforting bowls that used to house the cavatappi, replaced instead with far more somber-looking plates. The plates reflect a shifting emphasis toward mastering the art of the non-noodle. The results are mixed.
The newly-expanded salad menu is a by-the-numbers exploration of generic world salads, from the cucumber-heavy med salad to the classic caesar salad. Yawn. The salad menu would be more convincing if all its components weren't so nakedly pilfered from former dishes; the similarity of the spicy peanut noodle salad to the Indonesian peanut saut?? is downright goofy.
The new
oodle-less"" menu is a bit bolder. Aimed at the Atkins crowd, the menu offers the same sort of quasi-eclectic fare as the ""Noodlicious"" specialties, just with meat instead of noodles. Their efforts are solid enough. The sweet chili chicken makes for a nice, clean combination of lean chicken meat and fresh vegetables with a pleasant sauce on the side. The optional meat added to pasta dishes is now fresher-tasting and juicier.
At the same time, it's hard to really see the point of all the changes. The departure of the bowls is depressing, and no matter how adequate a chicken dinner they may offer, any downtown restaurant patron would be far wiser to sample the bigger, tastier and reasonably priced equivalent at Johnny O's. Besides, Noodles shouldn't be targeting carb-phobic diners any more than Chuck-E-Cheese should be changing to attract childless adults.
This is not to say that the changes are entirely bad. The new potstickers are an appealing side option, and the Tuscan whole-wheat fettuccini is worthwhile just on taste, setting aside potential health benefits.
Nonetheless, Noodles & Company remains what it has always been: ethnic food for people who either don't know what continent's cuisine they want or don't quite feel up to the high-impact world of actual ethnic food. After all their changes of varying success, Noodles would be better off sticking to what it does best: noodles.
