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

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 not only as husband and wife but also 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 worked in the kitchens 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 wife’s 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. They wed in 2004 and continued working at her family’s restaurant in Rochester together before becoming off-and-on Santa Barbara residents for seven years.

Oregon brought Wang to Santa Barbara, where she studied accounting at SBCC. The pair continued to gain restaurant experience until Rochester called yet again, this time with an invitation to open a sit-down Chinese restaurant 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.

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

Yet, Pang Zi’s menu is also a collaborative effort. Head chef Alex Hernandez, who trained with the SBCC Culinary Arts program, developed the eatery’s Vietnamese recipes, which include pork egg rolls and six 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.

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, cabbage, 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, 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 expanded its offerings since opening to include vegan pho, tofu dishes, and sauteed farmers market greens. With plans to continually update the menu and introduce desserts, the cozy restaurant is on its way to becoming a neighborhood favorite.

Pang Zi Noodle Shop is located at 4427 Hollister Avenue, serving lunch and dinner daily, 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. For more information, visit their Yelp page at bit.ly/3WygbqA.