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It's not the milk drinks flavored with avocado and green beans. It's not the section of the menu that reads like a porcine anatomical lesson. It's not even the plastic, flip-down benches available for the takeout crowd. No, if you're a Chao Zhou first-timer, the greatest shock will be the blank face the waitress flashes if you order dumplings. Here they come only as a soup ingredient, and after savoring the cilantro-laced broth, you won't want them any other way. Choosing from the hundreds of other menu items can be daunting, but the servers, who seem to know every item by number, ably offer some guidance. Wise diners will follow the virtual flock of birds hanging in the front window, and order the house smoked duck—a simply presented, finger-licking triumph. The enormous hot pots are not to be missed either, bursting with such ingredients as pork, snow peas, and creamy tofu cubes stuffed with shrimp. Greens cooked with a handful of "goldened" garlic go well with just about anything. In fact, the only thing to avoid is anything marked "TID" which does indeed stand for Thousand Island dressing. — Justin Hartung

House smoked duck, $16; hot pot with shrimp-stuffed tofu, $8.95