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Pearls boasts the standard trappings of most Upper West Side Chinese joints: round tables on a carpeted floor, a truly inexpensive lunch special and free low-grade white wine with dinner. Many of the dishes—like the above-average duckling with ginger root, the disappointingly flavorless vegetable dumplings, and the zesty diced chicken with peanuts and hot pepper sauce—stick close to the routine. But a few surprises lurk on the long menu, particularly in the Shanghai Cuisine section. Those who just want to look daring should order the preserved vegetables with bean sheets, which tastes much more appetizing than it sounds. Bean sheets turn out to be thin slices of bean curd, not lima linens, and when mixed with edamame and lightly pickled spinach, they provide a nice alternative to the usual lo mein. — Lauren Aaronson

Diced chicken with peanuts and hot pepper sauce, $9.25; preserved vegetables with bean sheets, $9.25