Profile

Alarm bells may sound as you scan the menu: What’s that strip of Chinese dishes doing next to New American mainstays? Surely one cuisine has to suffer at the expense of the other, right? Wrong. You can confidently start your meal with crisp potato pancakes topped with tuna sashimi or smoked salmon, then proceed to a wholly creditable rendition of ma po tofu, here a fiery Szechuan stew of tofu, beef and scallions. A half-bottle of Pinot Noir from the smart list of halves makes it all go down easy, and won’t clash with your companion’s neatly seared square of snapper. Oh, and if you happen to look up from your pleasantly surprising meal, you’ll notice a pleasantly surprising mix of patrons, from filmmakers strategizing their next shoot to a pair of Russian women so deep in conversation the attentive wait staff lets them linger, undisturbed, long after they’ve finished their crème brûlée. — Matt Gross

Sat.—Sun., 10:30 a.m.—4:30 p.m.

Potato pancakes with tuna sashimi, $12.75; Szechuan tofu, beef, scallions and black beans, $18