Xi’an Famous Foods

Why We Love It: This now-super-famous northwestern Chinese chain has spread into Manhattan and Brooklyn, bringing the cuisine of its namesake city to everyone who craves a tasty plate of noodles for lunch. You can go to Flushing’s Golden Shopping Mall for the original, though, and should. It opened in 2005 and the hand-pulled veggie noodles (known by New York’s vegans as N5) are a revelation. Hot, perfectly oily and as spicy as you like it, eating a plate of these is a rite of passage. If you have room, don’t miss the dumplings either. They’re F6.