JJ Chinese Seafood Restaurant

Fish tanks flank the walls of this Alameda joint, from which the kitchen plucks specimens -- like lobster -- to turn into dinner. And to be sure, JJ's turns out some excellent seafood dishes, employing jellyfish, razor clams, squid, shrimp and scallops, all specialties of the Cantonese chef. But the massive menu at JJ's goes beyond ocean life, too, covering everything from pedestrian sesame chicken to crispy pig's intestine to duck tongue with basil in XO sauce.