Joe's Shanghai • 1994

Soup dumplings bulging with rich pork broth made Joe's Shanghai a Chinatown phenomenon when Chef Joe Si brought his Shanghainese recipe from Flushing in 1995. The xiao long bao—available with pork or crab and pork—arrive steaming in bamboo baskets, their delicate skins barely containing the savory liquid that's earned this spot international fame. Lines still form at the Bowery location for these legendary dumplings, best pierced with chopsticks and slurped carefully to avoid burning your tongue.