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With menu items like pig stomach, chicken feet, and duck tongue, this eccentric spot is a better place to go on a dare than on a date, though you're more likely to see safe-bet platters of beef with oyster sauce or crispy duck adorning the lazy Susans. Shanghai dishes fare the best, of course. Cold sesame noodles, the strands so fresh tasting they must have been made minutes before, on request, arrive lightly dressed and with welcome touches of seaweed and cucumber. Shrimp and pork soup dumplings also have that homemade touch, though they don't quite yield the hot liquid rush of some of its better known neighbors. Straight-from-the-market vegetables are notable, particularly pea tips, a Cantonese favorite, sautéed until soft in garlic. The menu also includes Shanghai dishes from the 1930s, like pork stewed with eel, but even more retro is the cocktail list, with old-timers like the grasshopper and mai tai. The local courtroom crowd that favors this corner seems to especially relish the culture clash décor: Despite the red paper lanterns strewn about, the exposed brick and red-and-white checked tablecloths hint at a pizza parlor past, perfectly reflecting the Chino-Italo collision just outside its breakaway doors. — Kathleen Squires

Sauteed pea tips, $12.95; cold Shanghai sesame noodles, $4.95

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