My friends were inspired by one of Jonathan Gold’s final LA Weekly reviews, of Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village. Tamara made a reservation at “the most ambitious Chinese restaurant to open in Los Angeles in a decade,” which was quite the claim from Mr. Gold. The restaurant was certainly impressive looking, with décor that brought to mind a bygone Shanghai banquet hall. The shiny menu was nearly an inch thick, packed with page upon page of dishes and historical photos depicting Chinese women.

The food itself at Shanghai No. 1 Seafood Village was fairly uneven during our lunch. The owners most definitely had a handle on braised pork dishes, including a jiggling bone-in shank with bok choy, and even better, a dish that was called – to paraphrase – something like Shanghai Braised Pork in Old Alley. The dish featured shimmering squares of pork belly in the spirit of Shanghai’s “old alley,” infused with a sweet and savory red sauce. The caramelized cubes joined hard-boiled eggs and knots of bean curd in what looked like an urn. Happily, the hog had a lot more life than the serving vessel.

Dose of Vitamin P spotlights my favorite pork dish from the previous week.