Dining out: Beijing

SANDY — Beijing is a real American Chinese restaurant, and that's one of the things I like about it.

On the stormy weekend night my husband and I visited this newish restaurant for dinner, a casual, very American waiter (in an ornate Chinese shirt) took our orders, and the British drama "Torchwood" was showing on the overhead TV, tuned to BBC America.

The menu, too, contains all the favorites Americans look for when going out for Chinese food, with a few more exotic items. There used to be a lot of exotic items, but, unfortunately, a whole section of the menu offering dumplings, steamed buns (pork, chocolate, sesame and scallion) and various Chinese pastries was discontinued due to lack of customer interest. Or so said our waiter.

I wish those items, a bit hard to find in these parts, were still on the menu. However, I also understand the commercial realities of restaurant ownership. The bright side is, there's plenty of good stuff left to order. One suggestion, though, for Beijing's owners — cover up those sections of the menu, to avoid confusion and disappointment in the rare customer, like me, who'd love a scallion pancake.

Beijing, set in a spare but comfortable space with warm yellow walls and wood chairs, isn't one of those Chinese restaurants where everything tastes the same. Care and time — and very different ingredients — obviously go into each dish.

We started with the potstickers, obviously homemade and stuffed with ground pork. The pastry was a bit thicker than I'm used to, but its flavors were strong and satisfying. We also ordered ham-fried rice, a good litmus test at any restaurant. Are its flavors fresh? Are there lots of mix-ins? Beijing's rice was fresh, lightly oily and a little smoky, with lots of ham, egg and sprouts.

My husband was happy to see almond chicken on the menu, and Beijing's version is a superior one: lean chicken, Chinese cabbage, bamboo sprouts, water chestnuts and other vegetables in a light, savory sauce, with toasted almonds sprinkled on top. We also had the garlic shrimp, as colorful as the menu promised, with mushrooms, peppers and lots of big, pink and flavorful shrimp in a sauce that was garlicky but not overwhelming.

The beef with broccoli was perhaps the biggest surprise of the night, simply because its meat was a cut above the usual Chinese-restaurant beef, which is too often overly chewy or mushy. Beijing's beef was chewy, but in a nice substantial way, with broccoli and tender sauteed thin-sliced onions, which added a more complex, interesting flavor to an American-Chinese favorite.