Chef-author takes readers on a journey of flavours

Chef shares multi-ethnic tastes representing family's journey from China to Queens, N.Y.

Long a favourite with their customers in Queens, Xi'an Famous Foods' burgers had a fan in the legendary Anthony Bourdain.

He enthused in an episode of No Reservations that he had never had anything like the crisp morsels of cumin-laced lamb stirred with sliced onion and peppers and stuffed in a panfried bun.

Cumin lamb is common throughout northern and western China, says Jason Wang, whose father David Shi founded Xi'an Famous Foods in Flushing, N.Y., in the winter of 2005.

And the popularity of rou jia mou (“meat in a bun”) as a street food has spread far past its Shaanxi birthplace.

But the spicy cumin lamb burger treatment, as well as its hand-ripped noodle counterpart, is firmly rooted in Queens.

“That's not a Xi'an dish,” says Wang. “That's a Xi'an Famous Foods dish.”

The CEO of what's now a chain of family-owned, fast-casual restaurants in New York City specializing in the food of their hometown, Xi'an, China, Wang is also the author of a new cookbook.

In Xi'an Famous Foods (with Jessica K. Chou, Abrams, 2020), he shares recipes for 100 of the restaurant's signature dishes — including spicy cumin lamb and liang pi (“cold skin noodles”) — as well as homestyle meals like eggs and tomatoes.

Adding context, Wang dedicates chapters to the phases of his family's journey. From Laying the Foundations in Xi'an and Making It Work in Middle-of-Nowhere America to Finding a New Place to Call Home, their experiences cobbling together dishes using unfamiliar ingredients in Michigan laid the foundation for carving out a niche in New York City.

“It's about the immigrant experience,” says Wang, who was eight when his family relocated to the U.S.

“It focuses on each stage of my life and my family in Xi'an. What do we eat? What do we eat when we're in Chinatown? What did we eat in Michigan when we had no ingredients to use? And what do we make in our stores?”

Xi'an Famous Foods is more than a business to his family, Wang adds. Through sharing the food of the city, they found a way to reconnect with their roots. “We made a circle back to where we came from and bridged that cultural gap.”

An ancient capital and eastern hub of the Silk Road, “Xi'an has always been kind of a big deal,” he writes. People from Central Asia, elsewhere in China and the Middle East have gathered there for centuries, their food traditions entwining to create something singular.

Sichuan peppercorns, Tianjin chili peppers and black vinegar are cornerstones, Wang says.

Xi'an's uniqueness lies in its position as a culinary crossroads. Cooks use spices from India, the Mediterranean and the Middle East in concert with those of China: Star anise, cinnamon, dried tangerine or orange peel, white pepper, black and white cardamom and cumin.

Home to Wang's favourite lamb skewers — scented with cumin and grilled over charcoal — Xi'an's Muslim Quarter is one example of the city's history of multiculturalism.

“It's important to know about the diversity in the city — that it's not just Chinese influence. There are a lot of influences from other minority groups that we have to acknowledge,” says Wang.

“In Xi'an, the Hui are the biggest minority group, but there are other groups as well. Xi'an was like a New York in ancient times because of the Silk Road — it was the main point of trade.”

In showcasing the food of Xi'an, Wang hopes to open people's eyes to the diversity of regional cuisines within China, each the product of varying geography and peoples. Focusing further, he sees Xi'an Famous Foods as an expression of his family's tastes and journey.