Xi'an Kitchen Revisited

**** Xi'an Kitchen has closed

Recently, I was looking at my post on Tong Sheng Xiang (同盛祥) during our trip to Xi'an. Which had me wondering how Xi'an Kitchen was doing. During my earlier visits, the service was borderline abysmal.....well, kind of like the norm for some of those places in the SGV. My coworker Calvin is game for everything. I know he loves lamb, but his wife just can't stand the smell....so I thought he'd like to join me.

While the service is still somewhat perfunctory, things have calmed down a bit here. The food came out quickly...perhaps a bit too quickly in the case of the Green Beans, which hadn't been cooked the way I prefer.

Undercooked, underflavored....mediocre.

When I mentioned Zhajiangmian to Calvin, he didn't know the dish originated in China...Beijing, he's only had Korean Jajangmyeon. This from a kid raised right around the block from 101 Noodle Express. So I had to order it.

Not impressed with the handmade noodles, it had some pull, but the texture just didn't do it for me. The noodles weren't drained well either. Hard to believe these were hand made. Not enough pork and bean paste sauce, but the flavor of the sauce provided was fine. It was served the classic way with shredded cucumber and bean sprouts.

Calvin loved the Yang Rou Pao Mo.

  The bread is still all wrong; but the broth is quite tasty; gamey, with the flavor of the pasture I enjoy. Calvin absolutely loved this, he basically licked the bowl dry......he especially enjoyed the thickness and tongue feel of the broth and the gamey flavor. Now you see why he's always welcome to eat with me.

The Rou Jia Mo was too cold to enjoy.

There was a bit more filling than I recalled, though the pork....much like pulled pork was less fatty than I remembered. We split one, then took the other one back for "YZ"....who got a kick that I took Calvin to Xi'an Kitchen.

It's nice we're starting to get a better representation of regional Chinese cuisine than second rate Sichuan, Hot Pot, or lousy dim sum. I'm hoping that things keep getting better.

Xi’an Kitchen
4690 Convoy St
San Diego, CA 92111

Comments

[kat]

Hope it gets better

[Kirk]

I do too Kat!