Joe's Shanghai Restaurant   

Let's just get the soup dumpling thing out of the way, seeing as that's what everyone talks about. Deceptively called 'steamed buns,' they look like squat, onion-shaped dumplings and have an incredibly light filling of pork or crab and a hot broth. Put one in your soup spoon, nibble a hole to let the broth leak out, and then eat or slurp. They are universally adored, and have propelled the original Flushing-based business into a four-restaurant affair, as well as introduced the rest of Shanghai cuisine to the masses. Shanghai is somewhat the French cuisine of China, complex and rich, but with an infinitely more unusual variety of dishes. The jellyfish is almost crunchy, the fish head casserole is most popular with local Chinese, and the raw 'drunken crabs' are considered one of the most unfamiliar tasting dishes non-natives have ever eaten. There are also plenty of less exotic but distinctive recipes: smoked fish, yellow fish with rice wine sauce (sweet -- a typical Shanghai dish) and some take-out standbys. If you're having trouble, the staff is very helpful, and surprisingly enthusiastic. -- Dan Glass