New Chao Chow

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Noodles are the specialty of “chiu chow” (on which the restaurant bases its menu and name), a regional cuisine from China’s eastern Guangdong province on the South China Sea. Among the fragrant soups is the wonton noodle, a tangle of spaghetti-thin wheat noodles soaking in a yellowish, pork-scented broth, and sprinkled with bean sprouts, a crisp example of the cuisine’s Vietnamese influences. The region’s fondness for mixing seafood and pork emerges in wontons bulging with sweet shrimp and ground pork. Braised and boiled birds are another hallmark: Duck with fatty, caramel-colored skin is braised in soy; and the boiled chicken is remarkably lean and tender, pairing well with fresh broccoli. The one-room interior is unapologetically utilitarian in that way Chinatown excels in: Bright lighting, napkin dispensers on chipped tables, and red-and-gold calendars curling with age. The dumbwaiter’s arrival is signaled by a naked, blinking bulb, and sun-bleached curtains and ducks hang in the window. The default drink is a lukewarm brown tea, which tastes bland, but serves as a welcome digestive. — AnneLise Sorensen

Wonton noodle soup, $4.75; Chao chow-style duck, $4.50.

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