Vanessa’s Dumpling House

Hands down, Dumpling House is one of the best deals in Chinatown. Everything is cooked before your eyes and nothing costs more than six bucks. The best of the menu’s 23 options is the chives-and-pork fried dumplings, which you may want three or four times over. Sesame pancakes are huge, fluffy discs nearly the size of a manhole cover, baked fresh every few minutes, then cut into wedges and stuffed with fillings reminiscent of Vietnamese bánh mì sandwiches, like tuna mixed with carrots, soy sauce, peas, and mayonnaise, or with thin, fatty slices of smoked beef. Other tasty selections include combinations of broth, noodles, and dumplings; various flavored soups; and, when you’re lucky, pork fried buns or stuffed pancake with pork and Chinese vegetables.