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Nice Restaurant's understated, non-intimidating, almost cute name helps it stand out from the generic monikers of most Chinatown restaurants—but unfortunately, that's as unique as Nice ever gets. In a second-floor banquet hall adorned with the gold-painted dragon and phoenix reliefs that you've seen a thousand times before, metal carts trundle between tables crowded with Chinese families, offering up a rather paltry selection of ho-hum dim sum. The mood is busy but strangely subdued, as if the uninspiring food has dampened the exuberant atmosphere found in other dumpling parlors. The chefs do, however, know how to cook spare ribs, serving them rich and tender, alongside rolled rice noodles or even with "fried milk." Unusual? Yes. Nice? Definitely. But in a neighborhood with some of the best dim sum in the country, why should you settle for merely nice? — Matt Gross

Spare ribs with fried milk, $9.95