Worldly eater and Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern calls New York mini-chain Xi'an Famous Foods the "ultimate immigrant story." David Shi, the father of Eater Young Guns semi-finalist Jason Wang opened a hole in the wall food stall at the Golden Mall in Flushing, Queens almost ten years ago. After Wang graduated college, he saw potential in the popularity of the shop, which served authentic, non-Americanized, hyper delicious Chinese food, and spent the last four years stabilizing and expanding the business, bringing it to a larger audience.
Now Jason is the president of the company and has garnered the attention of the likes of Zimmern and his sometimes cohort Anthony Bourdain, and there are five Xi'an Famous Foods locations, a commissary, and one sit-down restaurant called Biang! as well as plans for future expansion. Says Zimmern, "The food they make is fantastic, the growth of the business is unbelieveable, and Jason is just so, so obsessed with entrepreneurship, it's a cool thing to see." Learn more about Wang's restaurant group and how he grew into his role within it in the video above.
· All Coverage of Xi'an Famous Foods [Eater NY]
· All Young Guns 2013 Coverage [-E-]