Xiao Chi Jie is a heritage-celebrating, forward-thinking food business founded by second-generation Chinese-Americans Caleb Wang and Jennifer Liao. XCJ, which started as a quick-service Seattle restaurant in 2018 and turned into a direct-to-consumer company in 2020, has built a nationwide following for its restaurant-quality, shipped-to-your-door xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and noodles. And XCJ’s latest drop is its limited-edition Taiwanese braised beef soup dumplings.
Dumplings, of course, are one of the lucky foods you eat to celebrate the Lunar New Year. And while Lunar New Year festivities are wrapping up this week, these special XCJ dumplings will be available for the next few months while supplies last. So you can keep the dumpling party going for a while.
These soul-warming, umami-rich soup dumplings, which arrive frozen and should be steamed for 11 minutes, are made with ground beef but have the flavor of beef noodle soup. There’s a nice balance of soy, garlic, fermented bean paste and different notes of subtle spiciness.
And as anybody who’s ever slurped Taiwanese beef noodle soup knows, adding more spiciness is never a bad idea. There are a lot of buzzworthy chili oils, chili sauces and chili crisps on the market, so why not dip your beef soup dumpling in one of them? Momofuku and Fly By Jing are two popular new-school brands, and old-school Lao Gan Ma hasn’t lost a step.
And then there’s the LA-born small-batch Boon Sauce, from accomplished chef Max Boonthanakit (who just earned a Michelin star at Camphor, the modern bistro he opened with co-chef Lijo George last year). Boon Sauce (which recently released an extra-hot chili oil) stands out because it dials up the flavor and funk with an ideal calibration of garlic, Sichuan peppercorns and anchovies, along with the requisite chili. Boon Sauce is perfect atop XCJ’s dumplings, and it also works well on everything from ramen to pizza to American barbecue. In fact, LA barbecue legend Adam Perry Lang just started using Boon Sauce at his pop-up at Casa Vega, where lines have been wrapping around the corner.
After you’ve amped up XCJ dumplings (the traditional xiao long bao are also excellent) with Boon Sauce, you’ll probably want to cool off your palate. (Accomplished journalist Danica Lo, who previously was the executive editor of Epicurious and the digital director of Food & Wine, once suggested that a great business idea would be to park an ice cream truck in front of popular Sichuan restaurants in New York. Somebody still needs to pounce on this idea.) An easy and satisfying at-home dessert option is Sweety mochi ice cream, with flavors like azuki red bean and matcha that are available around the country at stores like Walmart, Jon’s Market (in Los Angeles) and Food Bazaar (in Brooklyn).
Sweety is proud to merge the simplicity and traditions of mochi ice cream with quality ingredients. Like XCJ, Sweety is a business built on food memories. Sweety’s story started in LA’s San Gabriel Valley, with an ice cream shop in Monterey Park. And now siblings Stacey and Sean Lee (with their cousin Tiffany Yang), who were children when their parents started serving mochi ice cream at that shop, have taken their family’s mochi recipe and created flavors that also include Madagascar vanilla, mango, strawberry and ube. Taste the rainbow.
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