Army of Spices

Restaurant Name: Xi'an Famous Foods

Location: 81 St. Marks Place, New York, NY, 10003

Website: http://xianfoods.com/

Price Range: $12

JCL Rating: 5/10

JCL's Choice: Stew pork burger

Xi'an, where the home of the Terracotta army resides, is a really interesting city. Let's start this blog entry with a little geography and history lesson, shall we? Xi'an was the very first capital of China. It is located in western parts which is like the heart of the Silk Road in China. Silk Road was a trading route that extended from China to the Mediterranean. Why did I mentioned the Silk Road? Because that was when the cultural diffusion occurred (when different cultures absorb each others ideas and exchange traditions). This Silk Road gave Western China a chance to interact with many different cultures, and the most abundant culture among them were Muslims. Which led us to this unique Muslim-Chinese cuisine in Xi'an. This type of cuisine is also known as Chinese Halal with cumin as a major seasoning spice. Very different from the everyday Chinese food you eat, eh?


With such a rich history and New York city being so diverse, there has to be one Xi'an restaurant here at the very least. And here I am, blogging about my experience. I came across this place on a nice and breezy Saturday night as my friend and I were walking around the blocks of St. Marks in search of a place to grab dinner. However we did not dine there that night, we ate in a Japanese restaurant instead. But that place had been on my mind since that night because when we walked by, it was really crowded and the line went on to outside. I had to see what the hype was all about, so we decided to come back today. It was around 4 when we arrived, it was almost empty. 

The layout is really simple and petite, around 12 seats. It has a few pictures hanging on the wall (Terracotta army was one of them). And there were interesting notes posted as well. One of them was "Alternative setting ideas." It basically tells us to buy food to go and move to any neighboring bars to buy a drink and enjoy their food in other places. They even had a map of it. Once you are outside the restaurant, there is a really aggressive smell of cumin that will rush your nose. Anyways, I asked the cashier for recommendations. She pointed me to a note next to the counter. It was a FAQ note. It gives you suggestions of which dish to get according to you meat preference. I thought that was really cool. At the end I was only able to decide which meat I wanted, which was lamb. So she gave me a suggestion, the spicy cumin lamb noodle. She also told me they have chicken, lamb and pork burgers. Since I already had a lamb dish, I picked the pork burger and an unsweetened chrysanthemum tea as beverage. My friends got the concubin's chicken noodle, both spicy and non spicy, and a spicy tofu along with sweeten chrysanthemum teas as beverages. The chrysanthemum tea had a very strong floral aroma. It was very refreshing.

The spicy cumin lamb noodle was decent on the first bite. There was an extremely strong cumin flavor with a kind of spicy but not too spicy aftertaste. The flat noodles were very firm and long, cooked to perfection. Al dente as the French would put it. The cumin was way too overwhelming though, it seemed like the cumin kicked the lamb taste out of the dish!

I thought the pork burger would be like a normal burger, but with pork instead of beef. I was dead wrong. It was a stewed pork burger. Shreds and chunks of pork were in between the slightly toasted large English muffin lookalike buns. As you take a bite, there was a light crunch to it and the juice would be dripping down your fingers. It was really flavorful. If you do give this place a visit, this is a MUST TRY. 

So I tried both the spicy and non spicy concubin chicken noodle from my friends. The non spicy one had a vinegary taste to it. And the spicy one was coated with the spiciness. I can tell it was really spicy because my friend was sweating a lot as he was eating it. As for the spicy tofu, it was basically a hot and sour soup with sesame oil. Nothing special. But it was over seasoned. Extremely salty.

Overall this was a great experience. I would definitely come back for the burgers. The cashier was really friendly and professional. The ambiance is great, very comfortable and relaxing. This is definitely a twist to Chinese cuisine. As a Chinese myself, it is a shame to say I never realized there is such thing as Chinese Halal. I am glad I had the chance to try it and built up my knowledge once more.