Pang Zi Noodle Shop Opens with a Menu That Leaves No Noodle Excluded

By Stephanie Gerson Fri Aug 09, 2024 Edited By Isaiah Oregon

With more than 20 years of culinary experience behind them, Isaiah Oregon and Dan Wang can confidently say they’ve mastered all variations of noodle-based dishes. It was their mutual appreciation for Asian cuisine that brought them together as co-owners of the newly opened restaurant Pang Zi Noodle Shop.

Located on Hollister Avenue across from the Creekside, Pang Zi opened its doors on July 10, a few months following the departure of the previous tenant S.B. Munchiez, but it had been through several iterations during the time Oregon had his eye on the restaurant space, which dates back to 2012.

“The first day that it got posted on Craigslist, I jumped on it, and we got it right away,” Oregon said of finally securing the space in early spring of this year. From the day they signed the lease up until early July, Oregon renovated every inch of the space himself.

Pang Zi has a small menu of Asian dishes and operates on a takeout-first model with limited seating inside. The back wall features their mascot, a smiling panda with a mouthful of noodles. If you do dine in, you’ll be well cared for by Wang, the restaurant’s kind and friendly hostess.

In the years leading up to the opening of Pang Zi, Wang served in the dining rooms of Saigon Noodle House, China King, and Meet Up Chinese Cuisine. Pang Zi’s dishes reflect her breadth of restaurant experience.

“People follow her from restaurant to restaurant. Everyone loves her,” Oregon said of his partners contagious positivity.

Their two-page menu won’t overwhelm you with options but includes enough variety for every type of craving. Offerings feature a little bit of everything from Chinese and Vietnamese cuisines. Of course, there are many different types of noodles from mei fun to vermicelli and pho, plus fried rice variations and an assortment of fresh and cooked appetizers. Pang Zi aims to prove that it serves the best versions of a few Asian favorites rather than attempting to master every recipe in the book.

Oregon’s culinary résumé equally demonstrates a passion for Asian cooking. A Santa Barbara native who began his culinary career after moving to Rochester, New York, in 2001 to work for Wang’s family restaurant, Oregon learned to cook comforting Chinese takeout items. But the pair officially met in 2003, when their paths crossed during Oregon’s culinary studies in China, where Wang was still living.

Oregon and Wang came to Santa Barbara in 2007, where they both studied at SBCC. The pair continued to gain restaurant experience until Rochester called yet again, this time with an opportunity to open a sit-down Chinese restaurant in the suburb of Fairport, NY in 2012.

Operating a more formal establishment just didn’t feel right for the pair, who preferred the casual nature of takeout. Thus, they opened the original Pang Zi Noodle Shop in 2013, a restaurant providing affordable offerings that were well-loved by the Fairport community. Their departure from New York in 2015 proved to be the final one, with the determination to bring quality noodles to Santa Barbara once and for all.

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The couple brought back a piece of Rochester with them to Santa Barbara in the form of Pang Zi’s New York Style Takeout Chinese dishes, which are Wang’s family recipes.

Yet, Pang Zi’s menu is also a collaborative effort. Head chef Alex Hernandez, who graduated SBCC Culinary Arts program and formerly of Jane, Saigon Noodle House, China Chef(NY), China House(Fairport) and the original Pang Zi Noodle Shop developed the eatery’s Vietnamese recipes, which include pork egg rolls and many variations of pho.

During a visit to the restaurant in mid-July, we took Wang’s recommendations that reflect the restaurant’s range: lo mein with shrimp, pho with tofu, egg rolls, and their best-selling crab rangoon.

A sizable order of crab rangoon arrived first and relatively quickly. It was lightly fried and served with sweet and sour sauce; it was tough to restrain ourselves from eating every puff. But trust me, you’re going to want to save room for the other items in your order.

The veggie egg rolls were equally delicious, paired with another tangy dipping sauce (Sweetned Fish Saucec aka Nước Chấm).

Entree sizes at Pang Zi are generous, featuring enough noodles to satisfy two people. The plate of lo mein noodles kept grease to a minimum, featuring slightly charred shrimp and a handful of green onions.

The pho, which I enjoyed with chunks of fried tofu, was massive. Complete with onions, bok choy, broccoli, and chewy rice noodles, I only made my way through a third of the bowl before asking for a to-go container.

With every dish, Oregon said the focus is “fresher food, lighter ingredients, and quality ingredients,” as most produce is sourced from local farmers’ markets, and frozen items are avoided whenever possible. This emphasis is something you can taste; even the crispy egg rolls had a fresh and light flavor profile.

We drove home satiated, leftovers in hand. I’d consider Pang Zi a “you get what you pay for” kind of place.

The eatery’s positive local response has been everything that Wang and Oregon dreamed about. Including Hernandez and a dishwasher(Macdelano), they currently operate as a four-person team. They’re taking things slow and staying cautious of creating too much buzz that they can’t sustain with limited staff.

Pang Zi has updated the menu to remain simple and clean. As they continue to grow, they look to expand in the future.

Warm comforts

While the winter months brings the chills, these comforting dishes will warm the spirits.

By Dave Budgar January 21, 2015

Pang Zi Noodle Shop

Pho is my go-to soothe-my-soul dish during Rochester’s cold months, and there are several Vietnamese restaurants in the area that do it right. Pang Zi is a relative newcomer to the ever-expanding pho scene, one I’m glad I discovered rather serendipitously a recent evening in Fairport. Easy to miss (it’s set back from the road, inconspicuously next to a laundromat), Pang Zi offers 16 varieties of pho, including a kids’ meal. I chose the rare beef version, in which lean, tender beef actually cooks a little bit more in the earthy, beefy, gingery broth that is just brimming with depth and a complexity of flavor.

In addition to the rice noodles, onion, scallions, bean sprouts, Thai basil, and jalapeños that provide a panoply of textures and flavors, I find that a little extra fresh-squeezed lime and a few squirts of Sriracha take the dish to sublime levels. To me, there is no greater comfort than pho, and at just $7.95 for a belly-busting bowl, it feels even more comfortable. Some may do it as well as Pang Zi, but I’m not sure anyone does it better.