Xiao Ye Opens in the Hollywood District This Week

The three-quarters bar area at Xiao Ye. Photo credit: Xiao Ye

Back in March, I wrote about Xiao Ye, opening up in the old Beauty for the Beast space on Sandy Blvd and NE 38th Place. Their vision is to offer “First Generation American Food” and a recent article in the Oregonian (and this Instagram post) indicates they are ready to open—this week, in fact.

According to Michael Russell at The O, Louis Lin and Jolyn Chen (owners of Xiao Ye, which means “midnight snack” in Taiwanese) hope to open this Thursday, September 21. The article is full of all sorts of interesting details about the owners’ lives and decision making process they’ve been through, but I’m going to select the things that I think you’d like to know up front: staffing and what you might eat there.

As for the staff, Jolyn Chen is going to serve as the restaurants general manager, with Molly Kirk as assistant manager. The chefs are Andrew DeShano and Samuel Meoño (both former coworkers from Lin’s time at Rose’s Luxury), who will serve as chef de cuisine. Aside: if you want to work at Xiao Ye, you can reach out to them.

Food and Drink

The menu is eclectic—and will be seasonal. The chefs have been testing a bunch of things, so here are some of them that could make it to the final menu, as well as how they are organized, according to The O:

“To Start”: blue-and-yellow corn madeleine with whipped butter and jalapeño; turnip and bottarga pairing prized by Lin’s family as a drinking snack)
“Cold”: tomato toast drizzled with shallot oil; hand-chopped beef tartare with ripe pears
“Warm”: sweet-and-sour eggplant; a classic rigatoni alla Gricia (alla Felix)
“Bigger Stuff”: roast pork shoulder served ssam style with house ssamjang and a “dollopable” salted sesame oil).
Dessert: two ice creams, a honey-chrysanthemum and a fior de latte sprinkled with black sesame and Okinawan black sugar.

Some of the dishes they’ve been testing. Photo credit: Xiao Ye

“Jolyn’s Favorite Noodle” is one of those things that could change over the months. It will be prepared tableside. The noodles are kind of a mix of ramen and spaghetti. The aforementioned “alla Gricia,” a favorite of Lin, may also change over time. Look also for a “shrimp-cake version of tian bu lah, the skewered, fried and boiled to order fish cake familiar to anyone who has visited Taiwan’s famous night markets.” The shrimp will have flavors of tom yum soup.

The food truly is a fantastic mashup of flavors and traditions.

I encourage you to read The Oregonian article. And best of luck to the Xiao Ye team as they head toward the start of a new adventure. If you want to reserve a table after they are open, there’s more info on that here.

Rigatoni alla Gricia? Chrysanthemum ice cream? Xiao Ye’s ‘first-generation American’ menu readies to serve in Northeast Portland [The Oregonian]
Xiao Ye Is Coming to Hollywood [Bridgetown Bites]

Xiao Ye [opening September 2023]
3832 NE Sandy Blvd, Portland
xiaoyepdx.com | Instagram