Xi'an Famous Foods (Flushing)

Xi'an Famous Foods began in 2005 as a stall in Flushing's old Golden Shopping Mall, cooking the cumin- and chili-scented food of the far end of the Silk Road for anyone who found it. It has since spread across the city, but there is something right about eating it back in Flushing, at the counter in the Tangram complex.

The order is the spicy cumin lamb with hand-ripped noodles — wide, chewy biang-biang ribbons in a slick of chili oil and black vinegar. Add a cumin lamb burger on its griddled bun, or the liang pi cold-skin noodles if you want something cool and sharp.