Xi’an Famous Foods, the hand-ripped noodle chain that Anthony Bourdain once called unlike anything he had tasted, is opening its first permanent Boston restaurant at the end of next week at 255 Washington Street in Downtown Crossing. CEO Jason Wang says the roughly 1,700-square-foot space will include an open kitchen where customers can watch cooks prepare dishes like cold skin noodles, stewed pork burgers, and dumplings.
The Downtown Crossing spot takes over a storefront that previously housed a location of b.good, the Boston-founded farm-to-table burger chain, according to Boston Restaurant Talk. As reported by MassLive, the new restaurant will become the company’s 21st location overall and will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. once it debuts.
Wang first scouted potential Boston spaces back in 2018, and per MassLive, he described the opening as long overdue. The site follows a pop-up kitchen the company opened on Shirley Street in Roxbury last year, which Wang said served as a way to enter and test the market. That Roxbury ghost kitchen received a good amount of traffic, MassLive reports, and the Downtown Crossing restaurant will effectively replace it.
A Family Business Built Without Investors
Xi’an Famous Foods was founded by David Wang, Jason Wang’s father, who opened his first restaurant in 2005 in the basement food court of the Golden Shopping Mall in Flushing; Hoodline later covered Xi’an Famous Foods at the mall. Jason Wang left his own corporate job ambitions to help his father run the business, and the company has grown entirely without franchisees, investors, or venture capital over the past 21 years, per MassLive. Wang has said the company will continue to expand organically where customers want it and its bootstrap funds allow.
That expansion has already reached beyond New York. The chain tested demand in the Washington, D.C. area by opening a location in Alexandria, Virginia, in June 2025, before opening its first suburban storefront in Clarendon, Virginia, in August 2026, according to the Washingtonian. The company is also planning its first Maryland location inside Montrose Crossing along Rockville Pike sometime this year, according to the Fox Homes Team.
Boston Could See More Locations
MassLive reports that Xi’an Famous Foods is scouting prospective spaces in Harvard Square, Seaport, and Fenway for potential future locations. The company’s direct-ownership model extends to staffing as well — a 2026 job posting on Indeed lists starting wages of $21 per hour for store associates at the new Downtown Crossing location.
The Bourdain Connection That Built the Brand
Much of the chain’s national reputation traces back to Anthony Bourdain’s visit to that original 200-square-foot Flushing stall in 2007 for his show No Reservations, where he tried the pig’s feet, head cheese, and spicy cumin lamb burger and said, according to the video clip, that the food was unlike anything he’d tried. Bourdain’s support helped the business grow, according to CBS News. After Bourdain’s death, the company donated 100% of its net sales in his honor; the total was reported as a little over $73,000, according to Mashed.
The brand’s acclaim has extended well beyond that one episode. MassLive notes Xi’an Famous Foods has received accolades from Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Good Morning America, and Eater, and the James Beard Foundation recognized Jason Wang in its Outstanding Restaurateur category in both 2019 and 2020.
What Makes the Menu Different
Shaanxi cuisine, the regional style Xi’an Famous Foods serves, features dishes and ingredients associated with the region, according to Forbes. Jason Wang said Boston will also see occasional specials, including Chinese meatball soup, per MassLive.
Xi’an Famous Foods currently operates locations across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and greater Washington, D.C.; Hoodline covered its Flushing location. Jason Wang has said he’s excited for the Boston debut, which finally brings the noodle shop’s open-kitchen counter and hand-ripped biang biang noodles to a permanent home in Downtown Crossing.
