There used to be a time in the not too distant past when you'd find a decent neighborhood Chinese joint on virtually every street corner. Such times seem to be long gone and finding consistently good, reasonably priced Chinese food requires something of an effort nowadays. To help me locate the best Chinese fare, I relied on my trusty friend, the Internet. And that's how I came across Xi'an Famous Foods.. Yelp, Zagat, Forbes... Xi'an Famous Foods certainly seems to have made an impression on anyone even remotely involved in writing food reviews.
With locations all around the city, chances are if you're in NYC, you're probably not too far from a Xi'an Famous Foods restaurant. I looked up the closest location and it turned out to be just a few blocks away. I headed out one evening, and much like the reviews had suggested, found myself standing in a fairly long line waiting to place my order. Long as it was, however, I was very pleased with the surprisingly short wait.
Xi'an Famous Foods specialises in various soups and hand-pulled noodles. Great! I'm usually craving noodles when the Chinese food mood strikes. And hand-pulled? Well you just can't go wrong with that.
So I place my order and head to the room in the back of the restaurant which is minimally decorated to say the least. I then wait for my number to be called and I finally get my noodles on a styrofoam dish complete with a plastic fork.
Well this was clearly not a trip to Chateau-Vieux but those hand-cut noodles were as fresh as can possibly be, and that lamb cumin combo works amazingly well. Just writing about the experience right now makes me want to swim back to Manhattan and enjoy some more Xi'an Famous Foods goodness!
I definitely recommend this spot to anyone in the area.
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