Fodor's Expert Review Noodle Loft

Watch the dough masters work in a flurry while you slurp your noodles at this bright and ritzy restaurant. A seat at the bar lets you observe chefs snipping, shaving, and pulling dough into various styles of noodles amid clouds of steam. The black-and-white decor plays backdrop to a trendy crowd; do as they do and order Shanxi-style "cat's ears" (mao er duo), so named for the way the nips of dough are curled around the chef's thumb into an ear shape. They are then stir-fried with pork, eggs, cabbage, and wood-ear mushrooms.