When Green Village took up residence in San Gabriel several years ago, its directness of flavor and use of vegetables set it apart from most of the Shanghai-style restaurants in town, which largely concentrated on the heavier, sweeter end of the eastern Chinese spectrum. The steamed pork dumplings and the Yangchow lion’s-head meatballs were as tasty as they were at the other Shanghainese and Jiangnan-style places in the area. But it was the fact that you could find yellow fish fried with seaweed, chicken with chestnuts, minced tofu with greens, and sharply flavored wuxi spareribs, among many other dishes, that prompted the longest lines in San Gabriel. Then, one day, Green Village was no more, at least outside of Rowland Heights. Then Green Village — or at least a place calling itself Green Village — opened in the former King’s Palace space a block west of its old location, and the hairy crab with rice cake, tofu knots with gee-tsai, and pork knuckle in soy sauce are back, better than ever, along with a long list of other Shanghai and Jiangnan specialties on the epic-length menu. If braised grass carp has the power to stir your soul, you’ll be back too. 250 W. Valley Blvd., San Gabriel, (626) 576-2228.

—Jonathan Gold

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