There are few pleasures in life more satisfying than laying out a huge spread of Chinese takeout on the coffee table and settling in for a late-night Barney Miller marathon on cable. Maybe it's the notion of eating straight from those waxy cardboard cartons. Maybe it's the freedom of gorging yourself on cheap, greasy sweet-and-sour chicken and eating dumplings with your fingers. Maybe it's Abe Vigoda. But no matter what makes Chinese takeout such a joy (or compulsion, depending on your personality), it's important to have a good place on speed dial for those nights when the urge becomes overpowering. And for us, that place is East China, which has a big menu, low prices and understanding hours.