Inside | With Duolan Li of Xiao Bao
Wherein I chat interior design with the woman behind the look of one of Nashville's best new restaurants
One of the last big projects my communications company executed before The Big Lockdown was taking my Greetings From Nashville pop-up concept to The Dewberry hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. (Unrelated but really fabulous news: GFN is headed to London this fall! More on this soon.)
I was in CHS for three weeks, working the pop-up and getting to know the city better, which meant a lot of walking and a lot of eating.
Before I left, I had polled all my foodie pals for their top Charleston food recs. Without fail, every list included Xiao Bao Biscuit. “Make sure to get the okonomiyaki,” was a common tip, referencing the Japanese name for the restaurant’s famous cabbage pancake.
So I visited XBB, housed in a former downtown gas station, and I ordered the okonomiyaki, as well as several other hyper-flavorful Asian dishes. And now Xiao Bao Biscuit is on my personal best-of-Charleston list.
When the news circulated two or so years ago that Nashville was getting its own Xiao Bao, I was excited. But excited turned to thrilled last October, the first time I walked through the front door of Xiao Bao Nashville, located in East Nashville’s Cleveland Park neighborhood: a maximalist dreamworld of shiny Formica counters, vintage mylar wallpaper, polished chrome, and fun tchotchkes at every turn. Imagine an old-school New York diner and a lovely Asian café of a certain age meet and have a funky love child that wears its international kitsch proudly while still honoring the the cultures that produced it. And it loves strawberries. That’s XBN — totally unique and quirky-deluxe, yet very familiar.
The woman who dreamed up this dynamic space is Duolan Li, who co-owns the XB empire with Chef Josh Walker, her partner in business and in life.
Duolan is the restaurant’s namesake: xiao bao, which means “little treasure” in Mandarin, is her nickname. And indeed, she is a beautiful, smart, creative sprite of a woman with a unique personal style that she wears with confidence. I love running into Duolan because she’s constantly sartorially one-upping herself. A typical outfit might feature an avant-garde design from one of the Japanese fashion houses that we both love layered under a handmade piece from a Nashville designer she discovered, with a clever hat on top and fabulous shoes on her feet. (I could go on about Duolan’s style… and I will, in a different post. Watch for it.)
When I re-launched The Callaway Report, I knew that I wanted to profile one-of-a-kind spaces around Nashville. Duolan and her interior design at Xiao Bao were at the top of my wish list for this new reoccurring feature, called Inside.
The most important thing I learned talking to Duolan is that the project is very personal to her — a loving homage to some of the places and familiar design elements she recalls from her childhood in Inner Mongolia. Those memories join inspiration from other’s Soviet countries’ distinctive 20th century architecture and restaurant design from the U.S. and Great Britain.
I’m not going to go any further down this road, because Duolan covers it very thoroughly in the interview, which was conducted via email and has been very lightly edited in some places, with her blessing.
Enjoy!
Libby
PS. There were too many great shots of Xiao Bao’s interior and too little space here. Look for more photos on my Instagram Stories.
Before it became Xiao Bao, there was an empty industrial space. When you first walked in, did you see it — your design? Or did it take time to come up with the vision?
My partner Josh and I are good at laying out spaces, especially from a 2D overview sense. That part comes quickly, but the design process is a winding journey — you have some ideas and inspiration to start, but once it begins it keeps changing and developing. This project was not about following trends; it was a deep dive into my mind, which most days is a frenetic jumble!
I know this question could go in a million directions, but what were your main inspirations?
The foundation was taking a deep dive into my childhood memories of ’70s and ’80s China and, catalyzed by my love for Soviet Modernism, the retro kissatens of Japan, British cafes, and mid-century American diners.
How did you get started with the design process?
This was such a crazy, fun, challenging project because there were no interior design pictures that I could reference. I found this excerpt from an email I wrote at the beginning of the brainstorming phase:
What I love and ideas:
· Soviet window displays with metal patterns and painted design on the windows
· Play of geometric shapes, parallel lines juxtaposed against either graphic floral or more minimal romantic floral (the pulls between masculine and feminine and childlike elements)
· COMBO dusty wallpaper, makeshift stencils and vintage SWITCHES and BUTTONs
· Dark, dusty wood as grounding element
· Soviet versions of the disco ball
· Inset wall mirrored curio nooks or cabinets to display memorabilia
· Constructivist patterns in small doses
· Vintage sound system (probably out of budget)
· Think like a set designer to customize and create SPACE within space
So many of these things came to be! Way to manifest. What about themes?
Nostalgia and fantasy. Noir and comfort. The sweetly sinister. A take on Asian retro that reads like an H. Murakami short story set in a timeless, placeless diner.
How does your background — business-wise and culturally — play into the design direction?
People get confused by the Chinese name, Xiao Bao, and assume that our restaurant only serves Chinese dishes. We do have Chinese dishes on the menu, but it's a curated selection based on the flavors we discovered during our travels in Asia and comfort foods from my childhood. Some dishes are entirely our own creation — informed by Asian flavors.
Expanding on the food, the design is a personal visual representation on feeling Asian. I think in the U.S., ideas, and stereotypes about Asian cultures — more specifically, Chinese culture and design — stems from 19th and early 20th British colonialism. A lot is missing or lost in translation, especially during the latter half of the 20th century when the influence of Soviet Modernism was felt across the communist/socialist Asian nations.
This was my point of reference. While researching, I became obsessed with the late modernist architecture of Soviet Central Asia. It reminded me of the public housing landscape of my childhood in Inner Mongolian of China where monolithic architecture found creative expression through decorative motifs informed by local culture and folklore. This tension between homogeneity and creativity produced a “cozy utilitarianism” that I cherish and tried to convey.
On the flip side, my Asian identity is American (this realization, however, eluded me well into adulthood). I moved to the States when I was six and learned English watching Saturday morning cartoons and old Hollywood movies (LOVED Fred Astaire and the Busby Berkeley spectacles). I immediately got a sense of all things classically American, and the diner was right up there with burgers, French fries and Barbie.
The design of our bar feels like a classic American diner bar but it's an amalgamation of ideas and cultures. The bar soffit, for example, was inspired by a picture I found of chrome handrails in a Prague metro station (another nod to Soviet Modernism). It seems like most countries have their American diner equivalent — it's where comfort food can be found, and the design usually highlights this.
Without downplaying the cultural significance of the space, it’s also a maximalist’s playground — a dreamscape for someone like me who likes lots of things to look at while she eats.
The design of the restaurant is maximalist at heart. Perhaps a subdued, faded maximalism. It’s disparate parts of what I loved (which also felt like parts of my identity) collaged into one space. It felt risky because I didn't always trust that it would blend or converse in a harmonious way. I didn't want guests walking into a loud, showy, argumentative space. I wanted a space that gave you déjà vu — at once foreign and familiar, cozy and refreshing. You are always invited, no matter the occasion.
When you, Duolan, are on the floor engaging with folks, it really does feel like coming into a home — fitting, since the restaurant is a family affair.
The restaurant design is very much informed by my relationship with Josh. We are complementary halves of the whole, so the space naturally captures a lot of that love and creativity. He created all the 2D elevation renderings, sourced and calculated all the trim work and basically did all the tedious designs tasks that I didn't want to do. Plus, he's the chef!
Strawberries are a recurring theme at Xiao Bao — from the cookie jar perched on the high shelf that circles the dining room to the tiny waste cans in the bathrooms to the most obvious example, the step-inside fiberglass berry out front. What’s the story?
There’s also a strawberry design on the front of our vinyl menu booklets that my dad drew!
Outside, we ran into zoning setbacks with signage but discovered that an art sculpture was under different jurisdiction and much easier to get approved. This immediately got me thinking about the cool fruit shaped bus stops in Nagasaki prefecture. I found a fiberglass company in Wisconsin that had a catalogue of amusement park sculptures. They had an existing mold for the strawberry hut which was perfect because who doesn't love strawberries? They are my favorite childhood fruit. And I love Strawberry Shortcake.
And in the process, you created the neighborhood’s most adorable selfie station. Do folks come up and pose in it all the time?
Yes, it's a landmark and perfect for all the kids — and adult kids. People are hesitant to pronounce the restaurant name so now we are "that restaurant with the large strawberry."
What was your runner-up fruit choice?
I think the only other option in the fiberglass catalogue was a banana! But if money was not an issue, I’d want a replica of the cantaloupe bus stop from Japan.
You have some killer piece of vintage furniture. Did you shop around here?
We purchased the couches at (the annual flea market at) Round Top, Texas. But Nashville has an incredible vintage scene, and I sourced a lot of pieces from East Nashville Antiques & Vintage, Dashwood Vintage, and Goodlettsville Antique Mall.
I hate to call out favorites, but the private dining room is really special, with metallic convex security domes on the ceiling, heavy velvet curtains, and fabulous bamboo mylar wallpaper. How has it gone over?
The private bubble/disco room is usually booked for celebrations — birthdays or what have you. We have a karaoke add-on for parties that book the room after 8:30 PM. But the vibe in there always feels like a 2:30 dance party. ;)
The bathrooms are epic, too. And you wallpapered them yourself!
We have four bathrooms on opposite ends of the restaurant. The bathrooms by the private dining room are all vintage ’70s mylar and the bathrooms on the other end are naturescape murals that I wallpapered myself — but I'm not bragging because if you look closely, you'll spot the mistakes. The nature murals are remnants from ’70s/’80s home life. There is so much red in the main dining room, I wanted the bathrooms to portal guests to a different color scheme and offer another form of escapism.
As you know, I am obsessed with the paneling in here. That shiny oxblood color kills me. What's its story again?
The wood laminates are common — they are modeled after Jax Inn Diner in Queens, New York — but the burgundy faux burl wood and the galaxy glitter laminates in the dining room and bar were the last of their kind. The reality is that a lot of the more exciting stuff that used to be produced has disappeared over the last ten years. Not sure the story there, but it seems to not be popular enough to survive.
Another wallpaper question. Altogether, you have eleven patterns in your space. Where did you source them?
All the wallpaper is vintage except for the silver mylar wallpaper in the private room which is a vintage reproduction sourced from Designer Wallcoverings in Los Angeles. Otherwise, Etsy has it all! The hard part was finding more than one roll of a vintage wallpaper. I sourced it and some of the memorabilia from several Etsy vendors based in Ukraine (before the war began) and post-Soviet states and I continue to purchase things to add to the restaurant collection.
I’m going to end with a tough one: what’s your favorite area in the restaurant?
The kissa area — with the Soviet red floral wallpaper, vintage switches, geometric lights, and custom red chairs — was the first chapter of our design journey and holds it all together. It captures all the initial ideas.
Overlooking this section is calligraphy scroll painted by my paternal uncle. It is the famous Taoist saying which translates to:
The Supreme good is like water. Water give life to the ten thousand things and does not strive. It flows in places people reject and so is like the Tao.
XIAO BAO NASHVILLE
830 Meridian Street
East Nashville
Thursday thru Monday: 11 AM - 11 PM
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday
Gorgeous! would love a profile of her personal style too.