AJC

LanZhou Ramen owner to open noodle restaurants in Duluth and Kennesaw

A chef pulls noodles by hand in the kitchen of LanZhou Ramen.
A chef pulls noodles by hand in the kitchen of LanZhou Ramen.
By Ligaya Figueras
Oct 10, 2019

Since the debut of LanZhou Ramen in 2017, folks have flocked to the Buford Highway restaurant to fill up on hand-pulled noodles drowning in beef broth or featured in savory stir fries. Now, husband-and-wife owners Fu Li Zhang and Rachel Yuan are expanding their noodle operation.

Zhang and Yuan’s next venture is called Crossing Bridge Rice Noodle, and will be located at 2180 Pleasant Hill Road in Duluth.

As the name indicates, Crossing Bridge will feature rice noodles as opposed to the stretchable LanZhou-style of noodle made with high-gluten wheat flour. The noodles can be paired with various meat-based broths or a vegetarian tomato version, then topped with a protein such as chicken, beef flank or sour cabbage fish, and vegetables.

Appetizers include pumpkin cakes, black mushrooms with vinegar sauce, edamame, fried steamed buns and fried chicken wings. Among beverages, look for aloe juice, coconut milk, herbal tea, mango orange juice and haw juice made from Chinese hawthorn berry whose color and flavor resembles that of cranberry juice.

Zhang anticipates that doors will unlock in November or December. A few months after the Duluth eatery debuts, he plans to open a Crossing Bridge location in Kennesaw. In addition, a second LanZhou in the Atlanta area is in the works for 2020, he said, although details are not currently available.

Fu Li Zhang pulls noodles at LanZhou.
Fu Li Zhang pulls noodles at LanZhou.

Zhang and Yuan arrived in Atlanta two years ago, having moved here from New York. Zhang opened a LanZhou Ramen there but has since sold it. His noodle career stretches more than 20 years and an ocean away to China, where he learned the art of noodle-making in his native Kaifeng, a city in central China’s Henan province.

“He wants everyone to eat more noodles,” said LanZhou Ramen manager Frank Zheng, speaking as Zhang’s interpreter.

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About the Author

Ligaya Figueras is the AJC's senior editor for Food & Dining. Prior to joining the AJC in 2015, she was the executive editor for St. Louis-based culinary magazine Sauce. She has worked in the publishing industry since 1999 and holds degrees from St. Louis University and the University of Michigan.

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