UrbanDaddy’s been on a roll recently! After their tip-off about the fantastic bacon waffles, new at the Wafels and Dinges truck, I was psyched to try another recent recommendation, the Asian lobster roll at Xie Xie.
Hell’s Kitchen certainly isn’t short on unique offerings in overly stylized spaces and, in that way, Xie Xie fits right in with the rest of the pack. The space is a little space-agey, a little Ikea, with high-tech gadgets for food preparation and a very white aesthetic, complete with funky white chandeliers. The menu is short and sweet: a hodgepodge of sandwiches, which are all twists on classic Asian dishes, and two desserts. For the after-work crowd, Xie Xie offers a small wine selection, as well as “soda pop sakes,” flavored sakes from sake2me.
I would highly recommend getting your sandwich to go. Kim and I both opted to try the Asian Lobster Roll. Besides the toasted brioche roll (a bit reminiscent of a pretzel roll in its salty flavor and crispy crust) toasted and layered with shredded lettuce, we got our lobster salad on the side. After filling our rolls to the brim, we still had a good third of our lobster salad left over for eating later. The lobster salad had what can only be described as a unique flavor, seasoned with tarragon, shallots, and, what I believe was dill. Though it was more lobster roll than banh mi (a flavor mix promised in the UrbanDaddy post), the dish was still unlike any sandwich I’ve had before and worth every penny of its $14 price.
Sound a little steep for a sandwich? Likely a large chunk of that price is from the lobster, which is not only fresh, but also flown in from Nova Scotia daily. Frivolous? Probably, but also incredibly delicious. The employee who made my sandwich informed me that Nova Scotia has colder water, meaning Nova Scotian lobsters are far superior to the Maine varieties. The other offerings are all under $10 and feature intriguing combinations like braised chicken with smoked egg salad and cilantro, and Vietnamese barbecue beef with basil mayonnaise and carrot kimchee.
Xie Xie, which means “Thank you” in Mandarin, may only be a couple weeks old, but the small storefront is gaining a following in a neighborhood that’s already saturated with excellent restaurants. And that’s just one more thing for Hell’s Kitchen dwellers to be thankful for.
Posted by: Nicole Price Fasig
Order: Asian lobster roll
Price: $$
Location: 645 9th Ave. (at 45th St.)
Type of Food: Asian
www.xiexieproject.com
Tags: Asian, Hell's Kitchen, Seafood
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