Xi’an Street Foods Heads for Allston, and New York’s Xi’an Famous Foods Is Still on the Way

A new restaurant on the way to Allston bears a similar name to a popular New York City restaurant group that’s had Boston expansion in mind for quite some time, but the two are unrelated. Xi’an Street Foods will move into the space at 182 Brighton Ave. that was previously occupied by ‘O’ Yummy Cuisine, next door to Amelia’s Taqueria, per the agenda for a November 2 licensing board hearing.

The proposed restaurant takes its name from a city in central China, but it is not related to Xi’an Famous Foods, a New York-based group of restaurants known for its hand-pulled noodles. Xi'an Famous Foods started out in Flushing in 2005 and now has several locations in the New York area. Rumors surfaced in 2012 that founder Jason Wang was considering bringing the restaurant’s signature noodles to Boston, and he eventually backed up those plans in 2016, as previously reported. Now, Wang confirms to Eater that he is indeed in the process of finalizing plans for the long-anticipated Boston expansion.

While the city awaits the arrival of Xi’an Famous Foods, it can soon look to Xi’an Street Foods in Allston for a new dining option. The proposed restaurant could operate from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., with 24 seats inside, per paperwork filed with the city. If the menu features Xi’an cuisine, as the restaurant’s name suggests, diners may expect to find dishes such as paomo, a lamb stew with shredded flatbread; roujiamo, flatbread meat sandwiches; thick, wide biangbiang noodles; and more. Can’t wait until it opens? Elsewhere in town, Gene’s Chinese Flatbread Cafe serves Xi’an food.

Stay tuned for details on a timeline for the Allston restaurant’s opening — and for more details on the eventual Boston location of New York’s Xi’an Famous Foods.