I made a trip out to Flushing today beyond my usual hours in class to try the new sit-down restaurant version of New York’s favorite Western Chinese chain, Xi’an Famous Foods. Named after a quirky regional dish (supposedly onomatopoeic) with its own ridiculously elaborate Chinese character (see above and below), Biang did not disappoint.
Though I would caution that this is certainly not a vegetarian-friendly establishment. We had all sorts of spicy skewers (cumin lamb, cumin chicken gizzards, and cumin chicken wings), cold mung-bean jelly “sliced into slivers and dressed with chili oil,” “weird-flavored” beef shank slices (this time not the result of poor transliteration), and of course the eponymous biang-biang noodles, of the pork zha jiang variety.
Holy…
Downtown Flushing is a foodie’s paradise and a claustrophobe’s worst nightmare. Perfect for a Sunday afternoon amble if you don’t mind the constant enticements from Chinese pastries, bubble tea, Korean takeout, street noms, etc.
A month and a half into 2013, five weeks into the new semester, and fourteen days into the Year of the Snake – things are moving along swimmingly, I think.
I start a new job tomorrow, which will alter my triangular movements about New York just slightly. Now instead of trekking all the way up to Morningside each day, I’m just a hop, skip, and jump away near Union Square! Bring it on, Snakey!
Congratulations on the new job! And your pic of the dish looked very appetizing. I’m going to have to give this restaurant a try