It almost seems as if Ed's Pot Sticker House was meant to be in Chinatown, a few short blocks away, but it's a stroke of fortune that this cookie landed where it did -- in Bridgeport, where the competition for sticky rice ball, dim sum and stewed pork ankle isn't nearly as intense.

Ed's is polished and pristine, comfortable, too, with a line of booths on one side, tables on the other. Look for the two red Chinese lanterns hanging in front of an unassuming storefront. Once inside you will know from the menu on the wall, which is in Chinese, that you have come to the right place for authentic northern Chinese food (not to worry, though, there is a menu in English).

The dim sum menu alone has 29 choices. Noodles? Twenty possibilities. Seafood choices go on and on and on. Pork, chicken, beef? More than 40 selections. There must be more than 200 dishes in all on the menu. Where to begin?

Don't miss the pork and pickled radish soup. Gusto and goodness, warming and delicious, this was a soup with soul and plenty of pork to boot. Another warmer was the beef noodle soup. Chunks of tender beef, terrific noodles, the whole of it all on the spicy side. A meal in a bowl.

The dim sum I tried added up to total enjoyment. The pan-fried smoked pork cake involved triangles of scallion pancakes that snuggled up to slices of delicious smoked pork, with hoisin sauce on the side if you need it. Also, the beef and onion cake was a beauty, too.

A unique specialty is the Shanghai-style pork dumpling, served in a steamer basket, nine dumplings in all. Inside each of the dumplings was a "special soup." The idea is to pop the little dumpling into your mouth, bite into it and let the warm soup explode into your mouth. I can take this one or leave it as the dumpling wrapper was a little gummy.

A much better dim sum was the house special pot sticker -- "Long shape," as the menu notes. Six to an order, crispy fried on both sides, these cigar-shaped pot stickers were terrific in every way.

Some of the whole fish dishes got slathered with too much sauce (brown sauce, sweet and sour sauce). I preferred dishes like the sauteed lamb, which was richly flavored (cumin being noted) and stacked with mushrooms and chiles.

Vegetarians will have a field day here; the choices are interesting and varied. Hot (literally) dishes of note include eggplant with oyster sauce and fried hot and sour cabbage.

On the other hand, if you have a craving for fried pork intestines, Ed's serves them up in a couple of different ways. And you will also find traditional offerings such as Mongolian beef, kung pao shrimp, chop suey and chow mein.

Pat Bruno is a free-lance writer, critic and author. E-mail brunoeats@aol.com.

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