ABOUT US

Our Mission Statement

We strive to provide delicious, high quality, and authentic dishes of the historic city of Xi’an 西安, China, based on proprietary family recipes, through outstanding hospitality. We will satiate cravings and promote appreciation of our unique cuisine and culture.

Food in Xi'an

The city of Xi’an, situated in the northwestern region of China, has long been known as the first capital of China and the resting place of the famous terra cotta soldiers. As the starting point of the Silk Road, however, the city also boasts a unique cuisine that combines Chinese and Middle Eastern flavors. Historically, people of northern Chinese folks tend to enjoy noodles and bread more than rice, so because Xi’an is considered northwestern China, there are many noodle dishes and bread served as part of Xi’an’s cuisine. Furthermore, historically, due to the abundance of spices from trade, dishes tend to be heavy in flavor and spice, such as cumin, chili, Sichuan peppercorns, and other spices. Thus, the two dominant flavors of food in Xi’an and the surrounding regions of Shaanxi province is know for their “spicy and sour” 酸辣 and “fragrantly spicy”香辣 taste profiles.

History of Xi'an Famous Foods

Xi’an Famous Foods 西安名吃 (XFF) began as a 200 square foot basement “hole-in-the-wall” stall in the Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing, N.Y., the de-facto Chinatown of New York City. It was opened by a homesick Chinese immigrant named David, with his life savings, after sending his son to college. David just wanted to share his hometown food with fellow homesick immigrants like himself.

The original location, established in late 2005, was the first restaurant to bring the little-known cuisine of Xi’an (of Shaanxi Province of China) to the United States, with its signature Liang Pi “Cold-Skin Noodles,” “burgers” with housemade flatbread stuffed with stewed pork or spicy cumin lamb, various biang biang hand-ripped noodle dishes, and other specialties. Being a pioneer of this cuisine in the western world,

XFF had to coin the names “Liang Pi ‘Cold-Skin Noodles” and “Spicy & Tingly” to properly describe its food in a concise and accurate manner,

XFF was also the first to present the original and now increasingly-popular, Spicy Cumin Lamb Burger and Spicy Cumin Lamb Hand-Ripped Noodles!

The business is proudly owned and operated by David’s son, Jason Wang, a Chinese-American. Because they were born in Xi’an and proudly traces their family tree back generations to the region, one of their primary objectives in operating the business is to properly introduce the world to the unique cuisine of their hometown: liang pi “cold-skin noodles,"  stewed pork burgers, wide hand-pulled “biang biang” noodles, and more, all in their most authentic forms that would make even their ancestors proud.

XFF has since expanded to multiple locations in New York’s Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens boroughs, became immortalized in a best-selling and critically acclaimed memoir/cookbook, and started distributing meal kits and proprietary chili oil all over the US.