Lao Cheng Du

There’s a lot to like about this homey-feeling spot (formerly known as Prince Noodle House), just around the corner from Szechuan House in primo Flushing: the friendly service, the helpfully photograph-heavy menu, the cold-appetizer bar, the dumbwaiter that delivers the hot food from a mysterious location. And, of course, the food itself, including an unctuous Bolognese-like mapo tofu; shell-on, sweet-meat, salted shrimp on a bed of charred clusters of puffed rice, strewn with dried chiles, garlic, and scallions; and tingly cold rabbit hacked into chunks of tender meat clinging to bone and tossed with peanuts and white-sesame seeds.