LJ Shanghai: Cleveland's 25 Best Restaurants

Dining at LJ Shanghai is a joyful experience — especially if you’re bringing someone along for the first time. Watching someone you love bite into the xiao long bao ($5), or soup dumplings, for the first time is like playing them your favorite song.

But the more you get to know this 10-table eatery, which opened in 2017, the deeper the connection becomes. Owner LJ greets you at the door of the casual AsiaTown joint with a joke, a smile and your takeout order.

The restaurant is an education on Shanghainese specialities such as crispy pig ears with chili sauce ($7) and exquisite, savory pan-fried noodles ($12). The experiences range from the refreshing garlic cucumber salad in a delicate vinaigrette dressing to the plump sesame-soy Shanghai meatball to the spicy chongqing noodle soup with slow-roasted beef brisket or pork belly ($15).

There’s especially joy in scooping chile into that soup until scorching — a craving I seem to have around lunchtime on Cleveland’s hottest days when I’m wearing my lightest gray suit. A perverse, lip-numbing, sweaty joy that keeps me coming back for more. ljshanghaicle.com

Our full list of 25 Best Restaurants, 10 Best New Restaurants and reader-voted Silver Spoon Awards is your guide to Cleveland’s best bites.