A Fan Ti (CLOSED)

Overlook the fake flowers and votive candles that make A Fan Ti feel a bit like a retirement home, for it serves up fare unlike anything in Chinatown. The specialty here is offal meats, yet for those whom liver, boiled lamb stomach, eyeballs, tripe, gizzards and lamb testicles don’t scream “delicious," it still offers plenty of less exotic yet worthy dishes. The cumin-laced lamb in a hot sauce is like Chinese barbecue, tender and robustly seasoned. Even better are the lamb-and-chive dumplings, accompanied by a combustible crimson sauce laden with Szechuan peppercorns. A Fan Ti also serves excellent vegetarian dishes, notably potatoes and peppers, a dish reminiscent of fiery hash browns that, though common in China, is hard to find in the city.