April 15--Anyone who has followed my dispatches for any length of time knows that I like duck any way I can get it. Bright-pink roasted breast meat, slow-cooked Czech-style duck, duck confit -- and don't get me started on foie gras -- I love it all. But no cooking style delivers the combination of succulent meat and crispy, brittle skin that one gets from Peking duck.
The secret to a great Peking duck is extracting as much moisture from the skin as possible; dry exterior, plus hot oven, equals supercrispy skin. Air is forced into the cavity to separate the skin from the meat, and the ducks are hung to dry from 10 to 24 hours before heading to the oven. Done right, it's a thing of beauty.
Traditionally, the duck is carved tableside and served with cucumbers, scallions, plum sauce and hoisin sauce, along with crepe-thin pancakes or puffy bao, for diners to assemble. The participatory nature of the dish is half the fun for me.
Long ago, Peking duck was the kind of dish available only by special request and advance notice. But the dish is so popular that many restaurants offer Peking duck on a daily basis. And, with one of two notable exceptions, is a very affordable treat.
Here are a few restaurants that specialize in Peking duck and do it very well.
Lao Sze Chuan. There hasn't been a Chinese restaurant with a North Michigan Avenue address since the days when Szechwan House and House of Hunan were duking it out across the street from each other, but late last year, restaurateur Tony Hu (who worked at Szechwan House once upon a time) opened an upscale version of his Lao Sze Chuan restaurant in The Shops at North Bridge mall. This new Lao Sze Chuan offers a menu similar to that of its older sibling, with one big addition: Peking duck, offered in whole ($88) and half ($48) portions. The duck is carved tableside, and the first nibble you get is a dish of crispy skin with some brown sugar; you're meant to dip the skin into the sugar and then pop it into your mouth, but after a few tries I gave up on the sugar and just munched on the practically brittle skin. Then comes the duck, cut into thickish slices and served with all the sauces, cucumber and scallion you expect. The house-made pancakes, thinner than the thinnest crepes, are especially impressive. Two people can polish off a whole order rather easily. I'd prefer the duck slices to be a bit thinner, for a better meat/skin ratio, and the duck I had was somewhat dry, which I hope will prove to be an aberration. Overall this is a good way to enjoy Peking duck in a very handy location for downtowners and River North visitors. 520 N. Michigan Ave., 312-818-8099
Phoenix. One of the most consistently good restaurants in Chinatown, Phoenix offers a Peking duck ($38) that will feed two quite easily. It's carved tableside efficiently, if not particularly personably, and the chef handles the assembly, too, placing the meat, cucumber, scallion and sauce atop puffy, bao-style pancakes, and placing them on the table on a large platter. I suppose this would be less than appealing if there's a particular way you like your Peking duck -- that is, you know just how much sauce, cucumber and scallion you want on each pancake -- but for those of us with rather clumsy assembly skills, the extra service is a nice touch. Another nice touch is the stir-fried duck and vegetables that follow. Phoenix's website requests 24-hour notice for its Peking duck, but it's not strictly enforced; I walked in one midweek day and ordered without a problem. Still, I'd call ahead just in case. 2131 S. Archer Ave., 312-328-0848
Shanghai Terrace. The Peninsula Chicago hotel is a luxury property, and its Shanghai Terrace room is a luxuriously appointed, beautiful dining room, so it's not altogether surprising that its Peking duck, served in two courses, commands a $68-per-person price. It's a bit disappointing that the duck is carved in the kitchen (though management says it's "looking into" the possibility of tableside carving), but that will be your only disappointment. The duck is presented elegantly, the meat laid out in strips, topped with skin so crisp it might cut you. Accompaniments arrive on individual dishes, and the hoisin and plum sauces share a cute, yin-yang divided saucer. Crepe-thin pancakes are wide enough that you could make a virtual Peking duck burrito if you were in the mood (but don't). The second course is a clear duck broth with sticky-rice dumplings (resembling little mochi balls) in various colors. You will find less-expensive versions elsewhere, but you will not approach this level of elegance and attentive service. 108 E. Superior St., 312-573-6744
Sun Wah. You must order Peking duck in advance at this Uptown restaurant; not to make sure the restaurant has the dish, but to make sure it isn't sold out. Half the people who crowd into this sprawling restaurant order the house-specialty duck (the other half, it seems, order Mike's chicken, another crazy-popular dish), and you can see why. It's modestly priced at $40, but for that you get a whole, carved-tableside duck, followed by duck fried rice, followed by a delicious duck soup with bits of duck meat and squash. It's easily enough food for four. Sun Wah doesn't offer much in the way of creature comforts; the dining room is overlit, menus are in disrepair and the floor can be slippery. But that doesn't discourage the hordes of fans. Reservations are a must, and remember to pre-order the duck at that time. 5039 N. Broadway, 773-769-1254
Yu's Mandarin. Whether you head to the Yu's Mandarin in Westmont or Schaumburg (the latter is the one with the "noodle shows" every Friday and Saturday), you can get Peking duck for the low, low price of $29.50. And that's a whole duck, carved at tableside and presented with thin pancakes, scallions and plum sauce. Your waiter will assemble the pancakes for you, but as half the fun is putting them together, I suggest waving your server off after two or three pancakes and finishing the job yourself. As for the duck, the skin is appropriately crackly, the meat moist and the flavor very good. It's worth noting that Yu Mandarin's Peking duck service doesn't include duck fried rice or soup, but that's the trade-off for the exceedingly modest price. The menu says "24 hours notice required" for the duck, but that's not strictly enforced; still, I'd call ahead, especially on a weekend night, to be sure it's available. Also note that Yu's is very popular; I hit the door at 5:45 p.m. one Sunday and was seated right away, but by 6:45 there were 25 people milling about the waiting area. 200 E. Golf Road, Schaumburg, 847-882-5340; 665 Pasquinelli Drive, Westmont, 630-325-7800
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