Xi'an Famous Foods

Xi'an Famous Foods, the small chain of Chinese restaurants founded by David Shi in Flushing, Queens in 2005 and expanded by his son Jason Wang to multiple Manhattan and Brooklyn locations, introduced the distinctive flavors of Xi'an — the ancient Silk Road capital in Shaanxi Province, China — to New York and, ultimately, to American food culture at large. Xi'an cuisine occupies a position between Chinese and Central Asian cooking traditions, reflecting the city's historical role as the eastern terminus of the Silk Road: heavy cumin and chili seasoning, lamb as the primary protein, hand-ripped and hand-pulled noodles in various thicknesses, and flatbreads more reminiscent of the Middle East than of the coastal Chinese cuisine familiar to most American diners. The signature spicy cumin lamb hand-ripped noodles are the essential order: wide, irregular flat noodles tossed in a sauce of chili oil, cumin, Sichuan peppercorn, and Chinese black vinegar with generous chunks of braised and minced lamb, then topped with a shower of fresh cilantro. The Rou Jia Mo — two braised-meat patties stuffed into a warm sesame flatbread — is sometimes called a 'Chinese burger' and is equally essential. The menu is affordable, the restaurants are casual, and the food is some of the most genuinely distinctive and delicious in New York. The St. Marks Place location in the East Village is one of the more accessible for visitors, though multiple Manhattan locations serve the same menu.