Lucky Cheng's

Lucky Cheng's, which might be described as a meeting between China Grill and La Cage Aux Folles, is something of a New York institution. Since 1993, it's been famous for its impossibly fabulous drag queen waitresses and risque dinner shows. There's lots of entertainment: off-color comedy routines, balloons fashioned into shapes you'd never see at a children's party, souvenir thongs, and a tableside tarot reader named Angel Eye. (I don't know if she gives financial forecasts.) The three-course dinner-and-show combo is $32, with supplements for certain items.

When I visited this weekend, the couple next to me was utilizing Angel Eye's services. The music was such a volume that the boyfriend didn't hear his date ask the psychic about marriage. No matter, he was soon pulled onstage by "Rhapsody In Blue," an amazingly athletic dancer with glittering blue eyeshadow. Rhapsody announced the start of the amateur lap dance competition. An entire table of 21-year-olds dissolved into giggles as the boyfriend was relieved of his shirt. (He wouldn't be the last victim!)

As for the food, I found the fried-er, the better! My favorite dish was a plate of three jumbo shrimp encased in a thinly fried crust. Other items seemed to differ from the menu descriptions; there weren't any black sesame seeds in the black-and-white sesame salmon, and a Thai basil pesto was more like a black bean sauce. (But who really cares when you've having so much fun? Besides, there's cheesecake with raspberries and whipped cream for dessert.) The couple next to me enjoyed their fried rice and pan-roasted duck, although the boyfriend was too busy dancing to eat most of it.

The lap dance winners were chosen, smiles abounded and my mood was much lighter than it was at the start of the evening. (Have to stop watching that C-SPAN.) I went over to the host to thank him for a fun night, and when I told him my pseudonym, he said, "Salli Vates - that's a great drag name."

Lucky Cheng's: 24 1st Ave., (212) 995-5500.