Shun Lee West

Michael Tong opened this Lincoln Center offshoot of his upscale East Side Chinese spot, Shun Lee Palace, in 1981. And there can be little doubt that the restaurant — with its bow-tied and vested wait staff, glowing dragons, and elaborately folded napkins — speaks to another era, when knowledge of Chinese regional cuisine was limited by the fact that most Americans weren’t aware China even had regions. Even in the early ’80s, Tong was channeling the ancient flavors of Yangzhou, Sichuan, and Shanghai, and those delicate balances found in the push-pull of hot-and-sour soup or the mellow sweetness of red-cooked short ribs, Hangzhou-style.