How to pursue excellence … in noodles (unlocked bonus)
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What provoked this episode’s meditation on craftsmanship vs. “good enough”?
Hello, it is July at Search Engine, which means our team is out of office. For me personally, that means a month where I refuse to make any plan that was formed more than 24 hours in advance. My happiest space. We'll be back in August with new stories for you. In the meantime, we are airing some episodes that our free listeners have never heard, including this one. It first aired on Incognito Mode, our paid premium feed where we publish without ads and also publish extra episodes. Like this one, which I think about a lot. It's about the pursuit of excellence in domains that other people might overlook. And if you enjoy it, there are a bunch more episodes you've never heard. You just have to click the link to sign up in our show notes.
It's $50 a year. That is the money we use to keep this show running. Alright, enjoy.
I had a mentor who said something to me once that really stuck. He was teaching me how to make podcasts. Something had gone wrong. I was beating myself up for it. And he said to me, everything wants to suck. Like the natural orientation of everything is for it to be bad. And if you're trying to make something good, you're just fighting against that the whole time. I thought that was true. It stuck with me. And now, if I'm anywhere where something is excellent, I start to get curious. Like, who is making this excellent? It wants to suck. Who is the person, and what are the choices they're making to fight the natural orientation of the universe? There's a noodle shop I go to near our studio called Qian Famous Foods.
That's not just a boast. They are very famous here in New York. They have a few locations. But they are superbly excellent. The noodles are glutinous. They're thick and ribbony. They're drenched in this spicy hot oil. I always eat too much. I go for the food, but I also go because while you're in the restaurant, the slightly hilarious thing is that you can feel the ghost of the person trying to make it perfect. There are these very prominent signs telling you how to eat or not eat the noodles so that you don't ruin the experience. My favorite one is posted by the cash register. It says in all caps, are you sure you want to take those hand-ripped noodles to go? They will not taste as good as fresh dine-in noodles.
We allow takeout orders of our hand-ripped noodle dishes due to popular demand, but please heed this warning. The noodles cool down within 15 minutes or less when it's cooled out. As that happens, the sauces will soak into the noodles, causing them to bloat, lose their texture, flavor, and vibrance. The noodles may be reheated, but their original taste and chewiness will be gone. And then in all caps, so please eat the noodles right away. If you're able to, please have it in the store, or at least take a quick bite from the takeout container to know how it is intended to taste. Or just come back another day when you can enjoy the noodles correctly. End quote. That is one of the signs. And the reason I love these signs is because when I read them, I know that there's someone who cares about something more than money.
Like there's a person who is willing to turn away customers if he thinks they will have a subpar experience of the excellence that he's trying to summit. She on Famous Foods. I eat there once a week. This week, I wanted to talk to the person running this empire of noodle shops about how he built this, how he keeps things good, and how he fights the natural tendency of the universe for everything to suck. First off, can you introduce yourself?
Yes. Thanks so much for the introduction, PJ. My name is Jason Wang. I'm the CEO of Xi'an Famous Foods, the noodle shop in question, and so happy to be here with you. Did you personally write that sign? Oh, yes. Yes. So when you were talking about the ghost, I was like, you know, I agree with that completely. It's like my aura all over all the noodle shops. And also, I don't know if you noticed, my sound system actually comes in and out. Sometimes I will start talking on there and say like... did you know that you could get your something, something, kind of like the subway system where people are announcing things.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What provoked this episode’s meditation on craftsmanship vs. “good enough”?
0:00–5:36
2
How do the hand-ripped noodles and in-restaurant signs reveal a commitment to perfection?
5:36–16:07
3
What is Jason Wang’s origin story and how did childhood shape his relationship to food?
16:07–35:35
4
How did Xi’an cuisine get introduced to New York and why was it rare in the U.S.?
35:35–47:32