Xi'an Famous Foods - East Village

Xi'an has gotten a lot of press in the past year post-Bourdain visit along with expansions from Flushing to the East Village, Chinatown and Lower East Side. I'm surprised that it hasn't become even more popular then it is though with how cheap and awesome their food is.

Xi'an is a province in western China that leans towards the Middle East so naturally Xi'an's food is  Chinese dishes with Middle Eastern flavors. No General Tso's here, but much better servings of hand pulled flat and buckwheat noodles, cumin spiced lamb, stewed pork and oxtail. The main deal here is cold and hot noodle dishes with soup or non-soup options and easy to grab-and-go "burgers," which are pork or lamb on a toasted pita. 

I've tried probably half the menu. Everything is awesome and around $6 or less. The Liang Pi Cold Skin noodles may sound odd, but they are the most popular entree for a reason: the combo of cold noodles, crisp sweet greens and spicy cumin lamb is very refreshing. By the way, no, there is no skin in the dish, I think "cold skin" simply refers to the method of making the noodles.

Very interesting flavors at play at Xi'an, some of the tenderest noodles I've ever had (that's what she said) and very cheap to boot. If you're downtown then you probably aren't far from one of their locations so check it out.

81 St. Marks Pl., New York, NY 10003, Xi'an Famous Foods