Lā miàn (拉面) is a type of noodle that you can find all over China. Lā, (拉) means "to pull" and miàn (面) is "noodle", so 拉面 means "pulled noodles". 拉面 is made by stretching and pulling the dough into thinner and thinner strands. This style of making noodles is really old. There is a cookbook from the year 1504 called the Sòng Shì Yǎngshēng Bù (宋氏養生部, Song Family Wellness Department) that describes how to make 拉面. That means this kind of noodles is at least 500 years old! Here's a video my roommate took showing 拉面. In most restaurants they don't dance around with the noodles like this, but even without the dancing, the noodles are still really yummy!
Most of the 拉面 noodle restaurants around China are owned by Hui people. The Hui people are a Chinese Muslim ethnic group who are directly descended from people from Central Asia and the Middle East who traveled to China on the Silk Road, the ancient trade road that connected China to India, the Middle East, and Europe.
There are a lot of 拉面 restaurants in New York City, but we only have one in the Boston area. There are also 拉面 restaurants all over Korea and Japan. Guess how you say 拉面 in Japanese? It’s Ramen!