Mr. Chow

“This is the first place my son ate dinner,” says Lara Shriftman of Mr. Chow, which specializes in elegant Chinese dishes. When the namesake owner left China to set up shop in England, he managed to nail an approachable, east-meets-west rendition of his homeland’s cuisine. Now, Mr. Chow’s restaurants are just as popular in the states, where chic crowds amass for the sliced pork with chili peppers, shark fin soup, and scallion pancakes. Thankfully for Lara Shriftman, some dishes are kid-friendly, too. “Lucas loves Mr. Chow and has his birthday here every year,” says Shriftman. “He calls it ‘Mr. Chow Chow!’”