Tag: Xi’an Famous Foods

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chinese

Xi’an Famous Foods Brooklyn

Weird. Xi’an Famous Foods just opened up a storefront kind of close to where I live in East Williamsburg. But what’s weird is that in the middle of nowhere. So far from the train and mostly just among warehouses.

Seriously, this is the Google Maps street view…

Well after talking to the guy there, it makes actually makes sense since it is the location of their central kitchen. They make almost all the stuff there (sauces, meats, noodles) before shipping them off to their restaurants. And the location does make sense since it’s close to the highway. Might as well add a storefront since they are making food there anyway. And there are people that live close enough …like me.

Today is their grand opening and they are giving out free burgers or noodle dish if you go to their Facebook page. If you catch this quick enough and willing to trudge through the snow, you can still print out the coupon. Todd told me about it since he lives even closer and said he was going to go right when it opened …and they would hang his coupon on the wall like a first dollar bill. Anyway I beat him and was the first person there, but he and Elissa came after. No line because of the blizzard. People soon came in after us, but we already hogged the three stools at the counter. I feel bad all those people had to eat their food in the snow.

The food was good as usual. Maybe spicier? It had a lot of kick.

Xi’an Famous Foods – 86 Beadel St. Brooklyn, NY 11222

There was a big CPR poster on the wall. Is it weird that the people in the drawings look Asian? Maybe they just look at Asian because we’re in an Asian restaurant.

I do hope they hang my coupon on the wall.

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chinese

Flushing Golden Mall

The last place I took my family was the Golden Mall in Flushing. We pretty much ate all the same great food I had with Brian and Jimmy. Beef Tripe with Hot Pepper Sauce and the best Dumplings in Chili Sauce from the Cheng Du Tian Fu stall, Lamb Burger and Qi Noodles from Xian Famous Foods and a bowl of Hand-pulled noodles from the Lan Zhou stall.

I think this was a winner with my family, even though I don’t think we were supposed to feed my parents so much spicy food.

Oh and we took one of those Chinatown to Chinatown busses. Only $2.75 per person. The trip was around 20-30mins from Manhattan Chinatown to Flushing. Sure beats the long ass train.

Golden Mall – 41-28 Main St. Flushing, NY 11355

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chinese

Xi’an’s Tingly Lamb Face and Stewed Spine & Rib

I finally tried Xi’an Famous Foods’ Spicy & Tingly Lamb Face Salad and Stewed Spine & Rib. Brought it to Columbus Park with Yasmin, who is probably the only person I know willing to eat lamb face and spine with me. I’m not sure what was tingly about the lamb face, but the roof mouth bits were crunchy and the meaty parts were tender and tasty. It’s the most expensive thing on the menu at $8.75. It’s a good dish, but I only ate it because there was lamb face in it.

We ordered the Stewed Spine & Rib with the noodles ($5). There wasn’t much meat on the bones, but whatever was there was very tender. I was looking back at my photos and thought there was a photo of me attacking the spine bone, but dang I realized it was Yasmin. The hand-pulled noodles are good as usual.

I practiced with my new camera and new lens (Canon 50mm f/1.4). Hard to shoot the food up close, but easy to shoot the old Chinese people in the park. Those umbrellas in the tree are for shade I think? An old man laughed at me when he saw me taking photos of food. Another man hocked up a mean loogie when we ate said food. No Senior Citizens Chinese Opera this time, but I still love this park. I still have crunchy mouth bits stuck in my teeth.

Xi’an Famous Foods (Manhattan Chinatown) – 88 East Broadway #106 (but really on the corner of Forsyth) New York, NY 10002

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chinese

Xi’an Famous Foods – East Village

Tried out the St. Marks Xi’an Famous Foods location with Sam. Got there just before closing. The place is still small, but at least they have some seats, unlike the Manhattan Bridge location. If you’re wondering, the Stewed Pork Burger and Savory Cumin Lamb Burgers seem like the same tasty sandwiches.. Great deal at $2 and $2.50 respectively for the area.

They ran out of the Lamb Spine & Ribs and Tingly Lamb Face Salad. So I got the Pork “Zha Jiang” Hand-Pulled Noodles $6. The noodles seemed thick and stiffer than the ones in Flushing. Not as delicate. Possibly had to do with getting this order out and us out of the restaurant? The flavor was good though.

I was thinking this place would be great if you’re out and about late at night in the East Village, but they close early. 10pm on Sun-Thurs and 11pm Friday & Saturday 🙁

Xi’an Famous Foods – 81 St Mark’s Pl (btwn 2nd & 1st Ave) New York, NY 10003

On the way to the train, Sam was offended by this sign. I was curious.

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chinese

Xi’an Famous Foods on St. Marks Grand Opening

Tomorrow (Sat. July 3rd) is the Grand Opening of the 2nd Manhattan Xi’an Famous Foods. According to Hideki K. on Yelp, the 1st 400 customers get a free burger.  (UPDATE: You had to RSVP and it’s been filled to capacity. You can still buy food tomorrow though). I looked through the window just now and the menu prices seem about the same as the other locations ($2.50 for a Savory Cumin Lamb Burger). Now that these lamb burgers and cold noodles are so accessible, I wonder if people will still venture out to Flushing to the rad Golden Mall food stalls.

Xi’an Famous Foods – 81 St Mark’s Pl (btwn 2nd & 1st Ave) Manhattan, NY 10003
…Follow-up review

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chinese

Flushing Golden Mall Food Stall Adventure

Headed out to Flushing to finally try the Golden Mall everyone always blogs about. The last time I tried to find it, I didn’t have an iPhone to tell me where to go and what I should eat. I still don’t have an iPhone, so it’s smart to go with Brian and Jimmy, who can speak Chinese really well and even read what’s on the menu. Although they now have a lot of English writing everywhere, probably because of all the blogging folks, so don’t be too scared.

First off, the place is amazing. Nothing I’ve really seen before. A bunch of tiny food stalls down in a basement all cramped together, making regional dishes that look exotic. This here is the food blogger’s wet dream.

We started off with Liang Pi Cold Skin Noodles ($4) and Savory Cumin Lamb Burger ($2.50) at Xi’an Famous Foods. The lamb burger is just as tasty as the newer Manhattan location. The Lian Pi Cold Skin Noodles have a great flavor, but why is it cold? I can imagine it tasting better hot.

Then we walked around and into the first stall, Cheng Du Tian Fu, specializing in Sichuan. Brian asked the lady what their best dishes were. She recommended the Beef Tripe with Hot Pepper Sauce and the Dumplings with Chili Sauce. Then she told us to go ahead and sit over at the Lanzhou Handmade Noodle stall where we were going to get some noodles and she’ll bring it over to us. We noticed a lot of people doing that –taking things from different stalls and enjoying them at any table.

I’m not a huge fan of beef tripe, but this was the best tripe ever. Thinly slice and so tender. I’d order this again. Then the dumplings came over and that was the most awesome dumplings in the world. There was some garlic butter on top, like the stuff they put on garlic knots at pizzerias. So good. I want to eat that now.

We also got a bowl of Mutton Handpulled Noodles from Lanzhou and some veggies from a neighboring stall. They were decent. As I was watching the guy hand pull our noodle, I realized that the way he was doing it is just making one super long noodle in our bowl. That’s interesting. You could really go to town with a giant slurp. Jimmy and I almost did Lady and the Tramp.

The plum drink was hardcore. Really strong. Couldn’t drink more than a few sips, but interesting enough to try.

Funny enough, we ran into Todd and Sirin there. But I guess it makes sense. New York is a big city, small world. So I guess that makes Flushing, Big Trouble in Little China.

Golden Mall – 41-28 Main St. Flushing, NY 11355

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chinese

Xi’an Famous Foods Manhattan

I saw the Roboppy/Serious Eats post about a Xi’an now opening in Manhattan’s Chinatown. This is the famous place in Flushing’s Golden Mall everyone keeps talking about. Even more so after Bourdain went to it on his No Reservations show. I still need to check that show out. Not to brag or be clueless (depending on how you look at it), but I still haven’t really seen the Bourdain show outside of a few mins while eating a taco in LA. My point is that it’s just surprising for a food blogger and someone who likes ethnic food and weird shit. I’m also surprised I don’t have an iPhone yet.

I did once try to find Xi’an in Flushing one time, but I didn’t know where it was except that it was in some mall. This would have been a good time to have one of those iPhones. So I was so glad to see this place opening an outpost so close. The shop is really small. Not really a dine-in restaurant. It has a tiny counter that maybe three people might be able to stand/squeeze in on. That’s what Yoshie, Rob and I were able to do on this rainy day. It really got tight when four other people were trying to order. There were photos of Anthony Bourdain on the wall. A sign that says they must give you a receipt or you’ll get your food for free. Another sign that says the bathroom is in the basement of the plaza/mall, toilet paper available on request. What happens if you forget to ask?

I got the popular Cumin Lamb Burger ($2.50). It was pretty good. Well seasoned lamb meat in a bread pocket, kind of similar to pita or English Muffin without the nooks and crannies. Yoshie and Rob noodle dishes (Mount Qi hand-pulled noodles & Cumin Lamb Noodle Soup – $5 each). The noodles are hand pulled in front of you at the counter. The way they pull it, it is a much broader noodle than of the Lan Zhou hand-pulled variety. Yoshie and Rob really enjoyed their food. It’s a good deal. I want to try the noodles next time. Maybe some day they’ll put up a photo of me on their bathroom wall.

Xi’an Famous Foods – 88 East Broadway #106 (but really on Forsyth at the corner of E. Broadway) New York, NY 10002
Ramen and Friends – for Yoshie & Rob’s thoughts