<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3iVZfc_1GqfzNHL00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3iVZfc_1GqfzNHL00" width="800" height="450" >Xi’an Noodles, a restaurant chain serving Chinese hand-pulled noodles, is preparing to open a new location on University Way Northeast. This will be the restaurant’s second location on the Ave and its fourth location in the greater Seattle area.According to Xi’an Noodles owner Lily Wu, the new location is set to open its doors Nov. 8. The restaurant will also introduce a daily $20 all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet and dumplings that will be freshly prepared on-site.The new buffet option will run from 8 a.m. to noon and will include unlimited noodles, dumplings, and other appetizers.For Wu, the new location represents an opportunity to bring Xi’an Noodles closer to UW students, something she said she has wanted to do for years. When Wu opened the original restaurant more than a decade ago, she said she had hoped to find a storefront closer to campus but was limited by the availability of commercial spaces.“I wanted to make Xi’an Noodles closer to students,” Wu said. “I want to offer students a better deal closer to them because I was once a poor student.”The original Xi’an Noodles location on University Way Northeast will remain open for dine-in service while also operating as a commissary kitchen to support the chain’s expansion, Wu said.The new Xi’an Noodles location will open directly across from Taste of Xi’An, another Chinese restaurant with a similar name. Despite the proximity, Wu said she is unconcerned about potential competition. “My thoughts are very simple,” Wu said. “I don’t worry at all. ‘Taste of Xi’An’ doesn’t have my lamb and beef noodles. It’s not the same flavor. You will never find my lamb and beef noodles in any other noodle shop.”Wu developed Xi’an Noodles’ recipes herself, drawing inspiration from her upbringing in the rural parts of northern China,which she said shaped her preference for spicy food, lamb, and beef. Growing up in a low-income farming family, Wu said she rarely had the opportunity to eat at restaurants. When she decided to open her own in the United States, she had no formal culinary training and developed her recipes through trial and error, Wu said. “The secret is in the heart,” Wu said. “I use my heart to think about [the recipes]. I don’t have any experience as a chef, so I use my own understanding to create dishes. I am a person who doesn’t follow rules. I like to create my own things. I like to freestyle. Some say I am a restaurant owner, but I would say that I am a freestyle chef.”Before opening her first restaurant, Wu worked as a hotel housekeeper, responsible for cleaning 14 rooms a day, to support herself after immigrating to the United States, she said. “As I cleaned the rooms, I would always have my phone with me and I would play the audio for an English article or something similar so I could practice my English,” Wu said. “I knew I had to maximize my time to learn.”Over the past decade, Wu has expanded her business to five restaurants, including four Xi’an Noodles locations and a separate restaurant called Happy Crab, which offers an Asian twist on the traditional Cajun seafood boil. Despite her success, managing the expanding business has been difficult, Wu said. “I don’t feel I have any personal life,” Wu said. “I devote all my time to my business. I feel guilty for my family and my son. To manage a business, especially in the United States which is not my motherland, is incredibly challenging … I work as long as the job needs me and I work super hard.”In the future, Wu hopes to continue expanding Xi’an Noodles through franchising, a model that would allow her to grow the chain without personally managing every new location, Wu said. “I am not a person who wants huge personal success,” Wu said. “I am not a person just chasing the money. I just want to build quality … and if any young people desire to do their own business, I can help them use my mature concept and teach them to build their own business.”Reach U-District beat reporter Paarth Gupta at news@dailyuw.com. X: @pg_litty. Bluesky: ‪@pglitty.bsky.social‬.Like what you’re reading? Support high-quality student journalism by donatinghere.</div></body>

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Xi’an Noodles, a restaurant chain serving Chinese hand-pulled noodles, is preparing to open a new location on University Way Northeast. This will be the restaurant’s second location on the Ave and its fourth location in the greater Seattle area. According to Xi’an Noodles owner Lily Wu, the new...

Xi’an Noodles set to open second U-District location

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Xi’an Noodles, a restaurant chain serving Chinese hand-pulled noodles, is preparing to open a new location on University Way Northeast. This will be the re

Xi’an Noodles set to open second U-District location

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