To our community —
Xiao Ye is a neighborhood restaurant in the Hollywood District in Portland, Oregon serving first-generation American food. We believe in championing the food from our respective childhoods growing up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, as well as the recipes we’ve picked up along the way.
Xiao Ye celebrates all the dimensions of our experiences as first-generation Americans, so you’ll discover everything from rigatoni all’amatriciana to a half-fried chicken to savory madeleines made with masa and mochiko.
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.
Love,
Our Team
Jolyn Chen
General Manager & Co-Owner
Jolyn has worn many hats and lived many lives; born and raised in a small suburb of Los Angeles, she attended Cal Poly Pomona’s renowned Collins College and received her Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management. She spent her early years in the industry working in Washington, DC, soaking up all that the burgeoning food scene had to offer. Most notably was her time at Rose’s Luxury, where she really began to foster her own sense of hospitality. In true Jolyn fashion, while working two part-time jobs, she took a third at El Camino Travel, a start-up boutique travel company specializing in small, curated trips to emerging destinations. It was through that experience that she discovered her passion for design.
Jolyn would move back to LA to pursue a career in Interior Design, completing the UCLA Extension program for Interior Architecture while working at Croft House & Ginny Macdonald Design. A few years later, she and Louis would begin their chapter in Portland, where she worked as a designer at Jessica Helgerson Interior Design before embarking on their own personal project, Xiao Ye.
Hometown:
Hacienda Heights, California
Fav Midnight Snack:
Instant Noodles, add spam, egg and any veggies that are about to die in my fridge
Go-to Fast Food Order:
Quarter Pounder with Cheese, fries, and coke
Drink of choice:
Coke
louis lin
Chef & Co-Owner
Louis, like Jolyn, is a child of Taiwanese immigrants and was born and raised in that same suburb outside of LA. Unlike Jolyn, Louis always knew where his path would take him. After getting his degree in Business Economics and Accounting at UC Santa Barbara, he enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. From there, his career in kitchens began; Louis spent his externship working behind Nancy Silverton at her fine dining Osteria Mozza. Upon graduating from culinary school, at the behest of his best friend, Louis moved to Washington, DC to work for James Beard winner Aaron Silverman at his first restaurant, Rose’s Luxury. Rose’s would go on to receive numerous accolades- Bon Appetit’s best new restaurant in 2014 and a Michelin Star, amongst others. When Silverman opened his second venture, Pineapple and Pearls, Louis would follow him as an opening line cook and help the tasting-menu restaurant earn 2 Michelin Stars in its inaugural year.
In 2017, Louis moved back to Los Angeles and began working at Evan Funke’s Felix Trattoria. It was there that he found his footing; working his way up from line cook to Chef de Cuisine, running day to day operations and overseeing the restaurant that has become the standard bearer for handmade pasta in the country.
Hometown:
Hacienda Heights, California
Fav Midnight Snack:
Spam & eggs on rice
Go-to Fast Food Order:
6 chicken soft tacos and a large fry from Del Taco
Drink of choice:
White Negroni