New Yeah Shanghai Deluxe

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Like motorists looking for a highway diner with a bottleneck of big-bellied truckers, most Chinatown wanderers seeking a good Shanghai supper follow the long lines to New Green Bo or Shanghai Cuisine. Directly across the street from the former, though, and a soup dumpling's toss from the latter, Yeah Shanghai Deluxe outdoes both with terrific service, a talented kitchen, beautifully presented dishes, and, of the three, the coolest name. Plus —for now, at least—no lines. You'll be guided by your waiter to the soup dumplings, the de rigueur Shanghai-joint appetizer, but they're just one example of the kitchen's dexterity with dumplings (check out the meticulous stuffing and crimping going on at the front window). Fried or steamed, stuffed with pork or, as a special, springy snow-pea tips, the dumplings alone are worth the detour. But once you're there, it would be a pity to miss the crispy turnip pastries flecked with bits of salty ham, the multilayered tofu-skin mock duck, or the luscious, tender, eminently fatty pork shoulder glazed with a red honey-soy sauce and surrounded by a ring of baby bok choy. Yeah, baby! — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld

Crispy turnip pastries with salty ham, $3.95; tofu-skin mock duck, $4.95; fatty pork shoulder with red honey-soy sauce and baby bok choy, $13.95

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