82-39 Broadway, near the Elmhurst subway stop

King Five Noodle specializes in spicy Sichuan cooking, served in a pleasantly bustling noodle-shop atmosphere. The portions are huge, with a main dish usually enough for two, and the prices a serious bargain. I haven't quite worked my way up to the truly challenging dishes on the menu—which features more internal organs than a butcher shop—but I have the feeling they are more than authentic.

My favorite dish here is the "spicy noodle soup with braised beef." The waitress recommended it to me the first time I went to King Five, and I can't imagine a trip there without it. The soup features generous chunks of beef, stewed until the texture has dissolved, but the real star is the rich, complex broth infused with star anise and smoky Sichuan chillies. Large leafs of fresh spinach and home-spun noodles of different widths and lengths seal the deal.

On a recent trip, my dining companion and I tried the "shredded pork with salty vegetable and bean curd sheets," purely because the name sounded intriguing. It was a lovely, almost refreshing dish, heaped with greens and not a hint of oiliness. The steamed vegetable dumplings, listed for some reason under "breakfast," were another success story.

Several other diners had ordered several-course meals from the special menus posted in the window (unfortunately, mostly in Chinese), which feature seafood centerpieces such as lobster and dungeness crab. I'll have to work one in on my next visit.