MEAN stack application design

Looking for some insight/advice.

I'm creating an app where I want to expose an API that will be used by 3rd parties as well as my own web and mobile apps. Looking at the MEAN stack to do this. My thinking is that I should create 2 apps: 1. Express-based API app that talks to the MongoDB. No UI, just RESTful endpoints. 2. Angular-based web app with the UI. Does this app require Express? This app will hit the api endpoints to get/put data to the backend. Can Angular run on it's own or does it need Express/Node. My thoughts were for Angular to handle the UI page routing and Express to handle the api routes.

Also, in the mix, is an iOS mobile app and Android app. These will also hit the API for data.

My background is heavy Java/Spring/Hibernate/Spring Boot and .Net. So, explaining MEAN stack as it relates to Java technology/frameworks would help!

Thanks in advance. Eric

via emiles