Shanghai cuisine, an underrepresented style of Chinese food, shares some of the spotlight at La Mom Kitchen in Bridgeport. Although the menu is heavy on Sichuan specialties, Mike Sula says “it’s the 28 specifically Shanghainese dishes listed on the menu—from pot stickers to walnut shrimp to sweet glutinous rice balls in wine sauce—that set La Mom apart.” There’s a “compelling” bowl of braised-beef soup teeming with hand-shaved noodles, a “great centerpiece for any meal here.” A braised chopped meatball is a “soft, almost silky amalgamation of pork and tofu glazed in a glossy brown sauce,” while pork dumplings are “loaded with enough dispersed hot liquid that they could be counted as almost soupy.” For a large-format option, the Peking duck service is a “$33.95 value” that features two courses of “thinly flensed waterfowl with a glassy, shattering skin.” [Reader]

Politan Row is a “great” addition to Chicago’s food hall scene, writes Joanne Trestrail. The 13 vendors are “deliberately, interestingly multicultural in a way that keeps people coming back.” Fresh-made hummus and puffy pita “stars” at LaShuk Street Food, topped with ingredients like grilled chicken and mushrooms with caramelized onions. Empanadas from Tolita “also score,” while Thattu offers a “terrifically zesty” curry made with black chickpeas and ground roasted coconut. Lastly, the bun cha Hanoi at Piko Street Kitchen is a “slurp-worthy bowl of grilled lemongrass-pork meatballs with rice noodles and pickled vegetables in tasty broth.” [Crain’s]