Luosifen, the signature river snail rice noodles originated from Liuzhou City in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has now been introduced to palates of residents in the United States by a Chinese chef, and is becoming an increasingly popular snack in the country.

Audrey Keenan, owner of the Yanzi Noodle House with her iconic look of a beret and braids, has served up the prized dishes of Liuzhou in her restaurant in Washington D.C. for years, including the special rice noodle which is reputed for its pungent yet tempting smell.
Audrey said that she used to make the noodle for her daughter, but when her friends tried it, they were amazed by the snail-based rice noodle soup, especially the contradiction between its smell and taste. Realizing the specialty's attraction to local people, she decided to start up a business from the small bowl of rice noodles that was hardly seen in the country.

"At the beginning, I just made this soup for my daughter, because my daughter loves this kind of rice noodle very much. They're so excited, they said, 'Oh my God, it's so delicious, it's better than the package'," said Audrey Keenan.
She said that the restaurant sells 300 bowls of noodles a day, owing much to her secrete recipe, in which all of the ingredients are authentically home-made, containing everything from pickled bamboo shoots, string beans, peanuts and fried beancurd skin to the river snails that give it its name, instead of the half-done instant package ones.

As the word "snail" in the cuisine's Chinese name describes, actual snails also appear in the dish to flavor the broth, and thus the tasty soup, according to Audey.

"It takes at least eight hours, actually sometimes 24 hours for me. [For] some customers, they don't like the smell. They say it's stinky, right, but our Luosifen is not stinky at all. It's very special, it's different," Audrey said.
The soup, the toppings and the rice noodle, together created a unique chemistry of sweet, spicy and sour.
In 2021, a Washington Post story brought attention to her business. From then on, the restaurant begun to collect compliments from culinary critics and customers alike.