Best Chinese restaurant

Think of this year's winners thusly: if Changsho is the ex-hippie's Chinese restaurant, Peking Tom's Longtang Lounge is the 21st-century hipster's -- which is to say your -- Chinese restaurant. That isn't, however, to say you can't appreciate the former; to the contrary. Changsho's spacious and serene, even dignified, interior complements a menu that for all its familiarity maintains freshness. Macadamia and pine nuts, asparagus and mango spears shed new light on old stir-fries; an entrée of crystal scallops shines forth; and spicy boneless ducklings may de-jade you yet.

For re-jading, just hit Peking Tom's, where irony is alive and well. It circulates through the crimson rooms; it infuses the chichi, froufrou -- and yet, let's face it, delicious -- cocktails (including the Goombay Smash, a veritable coconut milkshake with pineapple, orange, and banana liquors); and it's in the food. Or, rather, it's in the culinary context, as one of our city's most discerning French chefs, Marc Orfaly, tackles one of our nation's tackiest-ever creations, namely Chinese-American cuisine. As it happens, though, Orfaly's making a genuinely swell go of it. So we're getting crab Rangoon again; we're getting barbecue-pork buns and moo shu. We're even getting pu-pu platters. Why? Because we get it.

Changsho, 1712 Mass Ave, Cambridge, (617) 547-6565. Peking Tom's Longtang Lounge, 25 Kingston Street, (617) 482-6282.