The New York Times

                                                                                          Marian Burro  March 5, 2003

A TASTE OF WASHINGTON;

For Change, A city Talks Food,

Not Just Politics

                                                                                                                 Linda Spillers for New York Times

At Chinatown Express, noodle-making is on display. The steamed pork buns,

soup dumplings and sweet crab with egg sauce are menu standouts.

Nearby, Chinatown Express has a chef in his window, twisting, pulling

and tossing dough until it magically becomes noodles.  Periodically

these lai mein are put on floured trays and carried to the back of this

undistinguished-looking restaurant, where they are turned into wonderful

   bowls of stir-fried or boiled meal-in-a-bowl soups.

I loved the steamed pork buns, the soup dumplings and  the sweet crab

 with egg sauce and a touch of coriander.    A lobster, fresh out of the tank,

 is cooked sweet and gingery; an order of fried chicken yields crisp,

juicy meat.