Where can I get good Peking Duck?
....in the Los Angeles area? Thanks.
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re: dclay
I think you'd have better luck if you either put up a new post, or go to one of Elite's existing posts - there's one that's been active for the past week or two...
I hope you get there soon - it's one of the best around...
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monku
Aug 27, 2008 05:33 PM
You can get "faux" Peking duck on the cheap (around $10 half order) at this little place in the building where Kim Chuy is located (727 N. Broadway). I say "faux" because it probably is a Cantonese roast duck, but the skin is crispy. Its a couple doors down from the old Mandarin Deli....a little BBQ joint that also serves boba drinks.
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The Chowhound Team
Aug 27, 2008 05:03 PM
Folks, we split a discussion of Peking Duck as it's done in China to the General Topics board.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/552779
If you'd like to discuss the dish in general terms, please follow that link.
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Monterey Palace on Garvey Ave in Monterey Park has fantastic Peking Duck...I have had it about once per year over the past 10 years and it is consistently the best I've had in LA. They serve the crispy skins with fillet attached with warm buns and hoisin sauce, then serve the rest of the meat & bones (still excellent) with those crispy chips that seem like colorful styrofoam but are actually pretty tasty & crunchy. BTW, they also have the best suckling pig and roast pork I've had anywhere! Go early (4pm-5:30pm), since they often sell out of the "good stuff" early in the evening...I have driven all the way there many times to find this out the hard way.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/monterey-pala... -
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Hughlipton
Aug 25, 2008 05:43 PM
I pre-order at Hop Li and ask for extra buns. It's about $25 and it is fabulous. First they serve the crispy skin with the buns and duck sauce and then bring the stir fried meat as a separate course. REALLY good!!!!!
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monku
Aug 25, 2008 04:50 PM
Don't ask me why, but Sam Woo in Monterey Park calls their duck "Peking Duck" on the take out menu, not roast duck. Was kind of shocked the other day to see the price of a whole duck to go is now $17. Their duck is very good and meaty and they sell a lot of them to go and in the restaurant, but isn't served with the buns and skin.
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re: monku
sbritchky
Aug 26, 2008 05:26 PM
I'm not sure what they're serving in MP, monku, but I had "Peking Duck" at Sam Woo's in Irvine recently, and it was very good, a juicy and meaty bird with a flavorful, crisp skin. (I don't remember the price, but it was significantly higher than $17.) My charming older waitress seemed to be pushing the buns, but I love those pancakes, especially when you get such a large number of them. Since there was no need to order in advance, I assume the duck preparation is somehow deficient -- perhaps our Chinese-food experts could comment -- but to my Western tongue and taste it was delicious.
As an aside, the only times I've had duck soup made from the Peking Duck carcass were in Hong Kong, and those versions were delicate but certainly not flavorless. Coming near the end of a large, complex meal usually enjoyed with many friends and colleagues, it was a refreshing reminder of the high point of the evening.
Back at Sam Woo, almost as good as the duck was an order of pork-stuffed potstickers. This standard item of Chinese restaurants from San Francisco to Omaha (I'm guessing) was very well flavored, and the dumpling dough was more delicate and toothsome than any I've ever had.
I had never been to Sam Woo and hesitated going, given the many authentic Chinese restaurants here and the mixed views of SW among chowhounders, but when I saw all the Asian families, I knew it had to be at least as good as <insert name of favorite small, local American chain restaurant>, and it was. In fact, better.
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Sam Woo Restaurant
15333 Culver Dr Ste 720, Irvine, CA 92604-
re: sbritchky
Mr Taster
Aug 27, 2008 10:53 AM
The Chowhound Team split this post from its original location on the Los Angeles board. If you're looking for Peking Duck in the L.A. area, please go to this thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/551815
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Remember, you're talking about eating Peking (Beijing) Duck at a Cantonese (Hong Kong) restaurant. These cities are thousands of miles away from each other, and the preparations are totally different.
Comparing the soups are like comparing Manhattan and New England clam chowder, or Carolina vs Texas BBQ, NY or Chicago pizza. They may be called by the same name but they're utterly different. What causes confusion is that the name, Beijing/Peking Duck, stays on the title even when it's being made by a Cantonese restaurant..... this can throw off people who are not familiar with China and think they're getting something they're not. For the record, traditional beijing duck never uses buns... only pancakes. The buns are a giveaway that you're getting Cantonese version Beijing duck. In addition, traditional Beijing duck is roasted in a special oven built just for that purpose, and smoked with wood from specific fruit trees. It's kind of like pizza from Naples.... if it doesn't follow the established guidelines, it's not authentically traditional Peking Duck.
Mr Taster
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re: Mr Taster
ipsedixit
Aug 27, 2008 11:02 AM
Ditto this, twice.
Any time you go to a Cantonese place for "Peking Duck" what you are getting is roast duck ... I don't care what the menu says, or what the signs on the wall call it. This is true for Sam Woo (all iterations and spellings) and all the major and minor HK banquet style restaurants (from Elite to Triumphal Palace to NBC).
This isn't to say that the duck at Cantonese places aren't good. It's just that as tasty as the duck might be, it ain't Peking Duck.
FWIW ... Lu Din Gee doesn't really even serve true, authentic Peking Duck. You can call your pizza "neopolitan" but unless you follow certain guidelines (e.g. a Verace Pizza Napoletana Association certification), it ain't it.
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re: Mr Taster
raytamsgv
Aug 27, 2008 03:14 PM
The cooking techniques are not the same for Cantonese roast duck and Beijing duck. I don't know why Cantonese restaurants use 'Beijing duck." Perhaps they're trying to get non-Chinese speakers a frame of reference? Perhaps they're trying to make a quick sale? Even in Cantonese, we have different terms for Cantonese roast duck and Beijing duck. Those terms are never used interchangeably. Having said that, properly-cooked Cantonese roast duck is heavenly.
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re: Mr Taster
Ciao Bob
Aug 27, 2008 03:42 PM
I was just in Beijing for the Olympics and had PD at about 5 different places from small to large, from cheapish to elegant and from unknown to carrying an over-blown reputation.
ALL the places served both pancakes AND buns (usually with sesame seeds) with the duck. I don't know if it is tradiational or not but buns are certainly ubiquitous in Beijing duck joints nowadays.
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Search the boards for Lu Din Gee, it's the most talked about Peking duck place although not universally preferred.
I love Lu Din Gee but sometime I prefer Elite's "two ways" Peking duck. They serve the meat "mu shu" style and serve the skin later.
Do you prefer pancakes or buns? At Lu Din Gee it's served with pancakes, but I think at Elite while the meat is served with pancakes, the duck skin is served with buns. If you like pancakes you'll probably like Lu Din Gee. Must order an hour in advance though.
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creamfinger
Aug 25, 2008 12:47 AM
That depends upon your definition of good. Conventional wisdom on this board says that Lu Din Gee Cafe in San Gabriel is the best to be had in the LA area. I've been there several times and it is certainly very good, but I didn't consider it to be excellent. I actually preferred some of their other items. Never the less, it definitely seems to be the best option for Peking Duck that's out there right now... at least in LA.
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re: creamfinger
SecretAsianMan
Aug 26, 2008 12:58 PM
Don't they also make a soup from the carcass? Does anyone know of another restaurant that does the same?
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re: Mr Taster
I love the duck from Lu Din Gee, but I also recommend that you pass on the soup option, it had no flavor -- as in it tasted like water. We did however enjoy adding the stir fry option, fresh bean sprouts stir fried with bits of duck (not a lot of duck to be sure, but it was a nice accompaniment)
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re: notmartha
I'm glad yours wasn't. I have to say that it looked like something good was going on, the soup was milky white, but our batch literally tasted like boiled water. I wonder if it depends on when you get it, or how far they stretch a batch. Then the duck meat stir fry arrived (we enjoyed it, but were surprised by how little duck it actually contained, it should probably just be called duck flavored sprouts). Oh well, glad to know there's something to it, we loved the duck so much I thought it was odd that the soup was so forgettable.
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re: debra
notmartha
Aug 26, 2008 07:50 PM
It's funny because we found the duck kind of bland on its own and needed lots of the hoisin on the wrapper. We had the 2 ways - skin & meat in wrappers, and the soup, and no stir fry.
We went about 1.5 years ago or so, so things could have changed. If the soup is watered down the leftover wouldn't gel, but I can see that some people will need a little more salt in the soup to wake the flavor up.
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re: debra
SecretAsianMan
Sep 8, 2008 01:17 PM
Debra,
Sadly, my experience echoes your own. The soup was startlingly flavorless, especially compared to some that I've had in Boston, which were so rich and tasty I wanted to bathe in it. I had hoped the situation at Lu Din Gee had changed. Perhaps Not Martha is on to something?In any case, with all those duck carcasses lying about, you'd think that a tasty soup wouldn't be too hard to pull off!
Happy eating!
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