Profile

Of all the regional Chinese cuisines to be found in the five boroughs—Cantonese and Shanghainese, Sichuan and Xinjiang—one remains relatively elusive: the pan-Chinese cooking that is de rigueur throughout the American suburbs. Luckily, Manhattan has its own version of suburbia, Battery Park City, where you can find Lili’s, a bright and comfortable bastion of the Middle Kingdom’s greatest hits. Scallion pancakes, hot-and-sour soup, sizzling platters of seafood, beef with broccoli—these are Lili’s standbys, gobbled up by those who’ve opted for high-rise luxury over rent-stabilized tenement tenancy. But this is no General Tso’s ghetto. The flavors are clean, the grease factor low, and the menu makes nods to slightly more sophisticated tastes, with a Sichuan-style bean curd that’s nothing like the mucilaginous stew produced by lesser chefs at some ostensibly more authentic restaurants. So, the next time you find yourself on the wrong side of the West Side Highway, don’t pine for Pell Street. Just indulge in some sesame chicken, mu shu pork, and an egg roll or two—guilt- and mostly MSG-free. — Matt Gross

Bean curd Szechuan style, $9.95