XLB (Portland, Oregon) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids XLB |
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Exterior of the original restaurant, 2021
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| Restaurant information | |
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| Food type | Chinese |
| Street address | 4090 North Williams Avenue 2175 Northwest Raleigh Street |
| City | Portland |
| County | Multnomah |
| State | Oregon |
| Country | United States |
XLB is a pair of Chinese restaurants in Portland, Oregon, United States. Second-generation Chinese chef Jasper Shen opened the original restaurant along North Williams Avenue in the Boise neighborhood in January 2017. He and new business partner Laura Tran opened a second in northwest Portland's Slabtown district in 2019. XLB specializes in xiaolongbao and the limited menu also offers other soup dumplings, baozi, buns, noodles, and greens. The restaurants have garnered a generally positive reception, with the soup dumplings receiving the most praise. XLB ranked second in the "Best Chinese Restaurant" category in Willamette Week's 2020 readers' poll.
Description
The original restaurant can seat up to 48 guests. The interior features a portrait of Chinese martial arts film actor Gordon Liu painted by artist Michael Palaus. Designer Trish Grantham hung paper lanterns from the ceiling and had characters from the Chinese zodiac hand-painted across interior walls. Willamette Week's Matthew Korfhage said of the restaurant's interior in 2017: "XLB's open-kitchen, fast-casual space is a clean-lined hall of ironized Asiatic kitsch, complete with stylized kung fu paintings, Qing dynasty lights hung at varied heights and a gold-painted wallpaper pattern of Chinese zodiac silhouettes—perfect dog, perfect snake, perfect rooster." In 2020, Fodor's Inside Portland described the original XLB as a "bright, modern space with comfy booth and counter seating and colorful Chinese zodiac wallpaper". The original XLB offers patio seating during summer months.
The Slabtown location has a seating capacity of approximately 45 guests. A pedestrian walkway outside the restaurants allows an additional 20 to 30 seats during summer months.
Menu
XLB's menu features soup dumplings, baozi, buns, noodles, and greens. The restaurant specializes in xiaolongbao, or dumplings filled with pork and soup. Entrees have included the "light-battered five-spice" popcorn chicken, once described as "sweetly clove and cinnamon heavy with a slight afterglow of numbing Sichuan pepper", and a Shahe fen noodle stir-fry with beef strips. Stir fries also have bok choy, green beans, and other seasonal vegetables such as Chinese greens from the Portland Farmers Market. The drink menu includes beer, wine, and lychee-lime soda.
Korfhage described the menu, which started with approximately one dozen plates, as "culled from Shen's childhood memories eating around town and in his own family's restaurants". Early evening and late night happy hour specials are available, as of 2020.
History
Jasper Shen opened the original XLB along North Williams Avenue in Portland's Boise neighborhood in January 2017. The second-generation Chinese chef had spent more than two years perfecting the craft of making xiaolongbao. As far back as 2014, he had considered opening a Chinese restaurant with Sarah Pliner and Kat Whitehead, with whom he had opened the Asian-French restaurant Aviary in northeast Portland in 2011. According to Korfhage, "Dumpling-crazed diners mobbed the former Aviary chef in droves, taxing his kitchen to the breaking point." Shen has acknowledged XLB "had a well-documented rough opening".
In April 2019, Shen and new business partner Laura Tran confirmed plans to open a second location in northwest Portland's Slabtown district. The 45-seat restaurant is housed in the Leland James building and offers a menu similar to the original. XLB has participated in The Oregonian's annual Dumpling Week, which sees local restaurants showcase special dumpling recipes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the restaurant operated via online delivery services.
