Object of Desire: Crispy shrimp rice noodle

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Elite, of course, is among the better Cantonese seafood restaurants in town, renowned equally for its stewed sea cucumber with abalone sauce at dinner and for its occasionally too-innovative dim sum at lunch. (It can be forgiven for its fried chicken wings in Coca-Cola sauce -- the baked barbecued pork bao, the congee with frog, and the crispy snow buns are pretty great.) If you prefer the relative serenity of dim sum ordered from a checklist instead of from passing carts, Elite may be the place to go.

So is it fair to identify a favorite from the dim sum menu, to recommend a single dish to go alongside the lush siu mai, the beyond-flaky Macanese egg tarts, and the Chinese sausage claypot rice? Perhaps: I’m going here with the crispy shrimp rice noodle, which is to say properly gooey steamed rice sheets wrapped around shrimp and freshly fried Chinese crullers, a shotgun blast of umami and pure crunch aimed straight at the pleasure center of your brain.

700 S. Atlantic Blvd., Monterey Park, (626) 282-9998.

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