Xiong's Cafe

There's an old map of the Forbidden City on the wall of this Bellaire noodle house, and during lunch the eight picnic-style tables are always occupied by expats from the Chinese capital. Popular orders are the spaghetti-like Peking noodles, which come with a topping of cucumbers and a dark sweet pork sauce, and the hearty beef soup with wide noodles, which comes in spicy and unspicy versions. The oblong Peking-style fried dumplings may remind you of miniature hot dogs.