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Don’t let the NRA sticker scare you away. Neither should you let the setting turn you off: pistachio-painted, formica-trimmed walls, disintegrating New Year’s decorations, and worn catering-hall chairs may not exactly whet your appetite. The House of Vegetarian delivers. Only a handful of places have so many Chinese vegan entrees and mock meat of every species. The menu includes vegetarian interpretations of American-style Chinese dishes, like General Tso's “chicken” and sesame "beef," plus a mixed bag of Cantonese and Szechuan-spiced dishes. Dumplings are doughy and better with meat, so avoid them. Vegetarian roast duck, ribbons of smoky-sweet bean curd sheets, are in a light, soy-scented broth. The gelatinous pan-fried turnip cake—usually studded with Chinese sausage—gets its flavor from vegetables instead, and doesn’t lose an ounce of its usual salty goodness. Among the Assorted Triple Vegetable (under Mock Pork) are three remarkably well differentiated meat substitutes—Chinese roast pork, breaded cutlet, and an incredibly realistic ham. Among the dozens of noodle dishes, the E-fu noodles with preserved cabbage is well-conceived—the crispy, salty strips of vegetable are a good counterpoint to the mild egg noodles. — Stephanie Adler Yuan

Vegetarian cooking knows no bounds at House of Vegetarian: Non-meat-eaters can indulge their naughtiest fantasies, from “sauteed roast pig” to “fried chicken.”

Fried turnip cakes, $2.25; vegetarian roast duck, $3.50; assorted triple vegetable, $12.95