Chinatown Noodle King

The tables are laminated, the waitstaff may grunt at you, and the atmosphere is crazy and messy, but this dodgy little kitchen is cheap as chips and does really fantastic Shaanxi cuisine—hot like Sichuan but with noodles and breads. They do an especially gorgeous gluten salad: spongy cubes of bread-like gluten with black vinegar, chilli, and herbs. This place fills up from 7:30 pm onward, so come earlier for a more leisurely atmosphere. They hand-pull their own noodles so order some of those, plus a dish of their spicy cumin lamb, another of their braised duck, and that great gluten salad and you’ve got a cheap, fantastic dinner for four.