You Take Manhattan

Better than New York City, guaranteed

Comments (0) By Jonathan Gold Wednesday, Jan 12 2000

...continued from page 1

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Aladdin Falafel Restaurant

2180 Westwood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90025-6351

Category: Restaurant > Mediterranean

Region: West L.A.

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Bay Cities

1517 Lincoln Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Category: Restaurant > Deli

Region: Santa Monica

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Mei Long Village

Even if Mei Long Village served nothing but dumplings -- terrific steamed bao stuffed with sweet red-bean paste, flaky sesame-flecked pastries filled with root vegetables and bits of pork, flying saucers of what seems like Chinese filo dough surrounding a meager but intense forcemeat of sautéed leeks, all of it twice as good as the dumplings New Yorkers wait an hour in line for at places like Joe's Shanghai -- it would be worth a visit. Mei Long Village is also the perfect place to try any of the famous Shanghai standards: sweet fried Shanghai spareribs dusted with sesame seeds; garlicky whole cod braised in pungent hot bean sauce; big pork lion's-head meatballs, tender as a Perry Como ballad, that practically croon in the key of star anise. The new-wave Shanghai classic jade shrimp, stir-fried with a spinach purée, is especially good, firm, subtly garlicked, garnished with deep-fried spinach leaves improbably glazed with sugar, a combination that by all rights should be bizarre but tastes as familiar as something you've been eating since you were a child. 301 W. Valley Blvd., No. 112, San Gabriel; (626) 284-4769. Open daily 11:30 a.m. - 9:30 p.m. Dinner for two, food only, $18 - $30. Beer and wine. Lot parking. MC, V.