When we think about perfect pairs, Louis Lin + Jolyn Chen from Xiao Ye in Portland, Oregon immediately come to mind.
Not only are they partners at the award-winning restaurant (Louis is the chef/co-owner, and Jolyn is the GM/co-owner), they’re partners outside of it. If you haven’t read their New York Times Mini-Vows story, it’s giving major When Harry Met Sally vibes.
We met Louis + Jolyn six weeks after they opened Xiao Ye in Portland’s Hollywood District while we were visiting the city in November 2023 for the launch of our noodles in stores up that way. Louis + Jolyn graciously let us take over Xiao Ye’s private dining room for an epic celebratory team meal that was easily one of our favorite restaurant experiences of the year.
Beyond their genuine hospitality, Louis creates magic with a deeply personal menu of first-generation American food that draws from all the shades of his + Jolyn’s respective backgrounds. Each dish feels like an invitation into their home, and we’re pinching ourselves that Louis created a Penne alla Vodka recipe featuring our pasta that will also be served at Xiao Ye this Valentine’s Day weekend. Louis’ approach to this classic dish showcases why we love his food so much. It’s both familiar + unexpected.
Before we dig into Louis + Jolyn’s Pasta People Q&A, this excerpt from their website really captures the soul of Xiao Ye. While nothing can compare to experiencing it in person, we hope this recipe + window into their world inspires a "midnight snack" with someone you love this month.
As long time restaurant folks, we are no strangers to late nights. And with late nights, comes a midnight snack, or as we call it in our house, xiao ye. You don’t have a midnight snack with just anybody. It’s usually with a best friend, a partner, a close family member and/or your chosen family. We want our restaurant to be the place where you experience xiao ye with your favorite people. It's our hope that when you join us, you feel connection -- with each other and with the food that weaves us all together.
Looking back over the nearly 18 months that Xiao Ye has been open, what’s your takeaway on how to best navigate your partnership at the restaurant with your partnership outside of it?
Jolyn: Service can be really high pressure and intense moments happen often. Communication during service calls for direct and concise communication, which can come off curt or rude, so it’s helpful to be fluent in your unspoken languages with each other.
The cheesiest thing we do is the 20-second hug. Sometimes, one of us would come home from a frustrating shift and want to immediately word vomit all over the other person, who probably had a calm and rejuvenating day off, and we realized that it’s really jarring for the other person. I heard about the 20-second hug on a podcast. Before you get into all the frustrations of your day, you start with a 20-second hug to equalize your energies/emotions.
Louis: In terms of work, it might sound a little over-simplified, but having a 50/50 partner requires you to be even more empathetic and in tune with how your partner is feeling. You can’t move forward without a consensus, so it’s all the more important to remember that disagreements almost always lead to better decisions being made, so long as you disagree respectfully. Luckily for us, we both really value the other person’s opinion & we both have the same goals for the business. That helps a lot, and we are always overcommunicating about those goals. And maybe the most important thing: we can’t be afraid to call each other out in private, and the other person can’t be afraid to be called out for making a mistake or doing something wrong.
But I think the overcommunication with regards to work actually helps us with our partnership outside of the restaurant. At any moment, you can fall into the trap of talking about work too much, so we’re both learning how to be more conscious of letting our personal time just be our personal time, like before we opened the restaurant. It goes back to empathy; I might have something about work that I want to talk about, but does Jolyn? Is she in the right headspace for that? And vice versa; if I don’t want to talk about work, do I have the right language and verbal cues to show her that it’s not the right time?
This month, we’ve been going deep on perfect pairs. What are your favorite, seemingly incongruent, but really delicious food/flavor pairings?
Jolyn: I don’t think it’s incongruent per say, but I like the Trader Joe’s Wine Country Chicken Salad with Ritz Crackers, topped with a bread and butter pickle. It’s sweet, salty, and tangy, which is my favorite flavor combo.
Louis: Growing up, my Godfather would make us a “treat” for dessert once in a while: canned pears (in heavy syrup) with mayo (always Best Foods) & shredded sharp cheddar cheese. He was from Kentucky, so he introduced me and my sister to a lot of foods we’d never have gotten to try at home. This one was a favorite of ours. It’s super weird, but really delicious. A consolation price / honorable mention: if you haven’t heard of Asian potato salad, you have to try it. My mom’s always had diced apples, deli ham, hard-boiled eggs, and canned sweet corn (along with the more typical carrots, peas, and potatoes, of course). Sweet & savory!
Walk us through your “Shift Notes.” What’s a day-in-the-life like for the two of you?
Jolyn: Lately, I’ve been getting out of bed a little later, around 10/10:30am, since it’s winter in Portland.
10:00am - Make my morning matcha and off to pilates!
11:30am - Back home from my workout to get ready for work & eat breakfast
1pm-3:30pm - Head into Xiao Ye to get the workday started. I check reservations, staffing, print
menus, set-up our pre-shift sheets, admin emails, and get a head start on any future projects.
3:30pm - Family meal
4:00pm - Pre-shift with FOH team
4:15pm - Set-up the dining room for dinner service
5:00pm - Doors open for service and I basically fill in the gaps throughout service to make sure
everyone feels supported.
9:30pm - Start closing down the night & all the paperwork involved
10:30pm - Wait for Louis and his BOH team to finish their close so we can go home together
11:00pm - We both go home and have our own xiao ye!
12:00am - Shower & nighttime routine & wind-down
1:30am - Sleep!
Louis: I’m definitely the deadly late sleeper / late riser combo. But I’m trying to be better at waking up a little earlier! I try to work out at least twice a week, so on those days I wake up around 9 (otherwise I’m in bed until 11).
9:30am - Coffee time (I really only take two sips because I don’t like having a whole coffee before a workout)
10:00am - Orange Theory
11:30am - Drink the rest of my now lukewarm coffee (I kinda like it like that), maybe have some
breakfast, and catch up on YouTube
12:00pm - 1:00pm - Off to work! I usually have an errand or two that I like to do before I get in, too.
2:30pm - BOH meeting to go over the day
3:30pm - Family Meal
4:00pm - FOH pre-shift
5:00pm - Doors open! Here we go! You’ll usually find me on Expo.
9:30pm - 12:00am - Head out of work (depending on my schedule that day, if I’m closing or not)
11:00pm - We both go home and have our own xiao ye!
12:30am - After xiao ye, I get some wind-down time
2:30am - Sleepy time
What album is playing during pre-service at Xiao Ye? How does that compare to what you play at home?
Jolyn: It depends on our mood at the restaurant, but today, it’s Bad Bunny’s new album! For a while there, we were playing a lot of country music like Chris Stapleton at home, but lately, I’ve been setting our morning mood with LoFi or old school jazz music so we can pretend we’re enjoying our morning coffee/tea at a coffee shop. (LOL!)
Louis: I’ve been told I have the music taste of a sad teen girl, but my music tastes are pretty varied! When we’re at work, we sort of leave it up to the cooks and we take turns putting music on, but I’m probably listening to hip-hop from the 90s ‘til now, country music (Chris Stapleton, Zach Bryan, Sierra Farrell, etc), oldies, or just good ol’ pop! When I’m not at work, I’m almost always listening to podcasts (it’s really the only way I can keep up with sports these days!). Although this past year I’ve listened to soooo much Lizzy McAlpine.
You’ve already generously shared a recipe for our blog, but at home, what’s your go-to “midnight snack” pasta dish? And what are you pairing with it?
Jolyn: Koka’s Black Pepper fried instant noodles! I love pairing it with good ol’ sparkling water and if I’m feeling fancy, I’ll pour a little amarena cherry syrup in it.
Louis: Honestly, I’m probably the one just eating whatever leftovers we have in the fridge! Anything that I don’t think Jolyn will want, I’m eating. But the Asian pantry is a treasure trove of condiments, so my go to pasta is actually dried wheat noodles (the wavy ones if you can get them) with any combination of ubiquitous and esoteric pantry staples: soy sauce, whatever vinegar you have, whatever chile oil / sauce you fancy at that moment, maybe fried shallot sauce or oil, Taiwanese sa-cha sauce, white pepper, sesame oil, the list goes on and on!