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Ultimate LA Peking Duck Guide

Jan03

Peking Duck (also more correctly known as Beijing Duck) is one of those sublime foods that’s full of contrasts. It’s always good, but rarely perfect. Seemingly common, proper versions are hard to find. And it’s poorly understood and equally poorly distinguished from it’s ducky cousins. I’ve loved it for nearly half a century, enjoyed it in America and China, and recently made an exhaustive study of the offerings in the greater Los Angeles area. Myself and my good friend and infamous fellow-glutton Jeffrey (a.k.a. @xtremefoodies_) co-organized DuQuest, the search for the best in LA. But before we get to the rankings (click here to skip to them) we need to discuss the basics.

What is Peking Duck?

Fundamentally, Peking Duck is a kind of Chinese roast duck. But as far as I can tell there are at least 4 broad categories of roast duck COMMONLY available in LA’s vast bounty of Chinese restaurants (and a few fusion places). They are:

“Real” Peking Duck

For the purposes of this article, I’m focusing on this: A dish from Beijing (Peking) that has been prepared since the Imperial era. The meat is characterized by its thin, crispy skin, with authentic versions of the dish serving mostly the skin and breast/thigh meat, sliced in front of the diners by the cook. Ducks bred especially for the dish are slaughtered after 65 days and seasoned before being roasted in a closed or hung oven. The meat is often eaten with spring onion, cucumber and sweet bean sauce with pancakes rolled around the fillings.

(Messy) Peking Duck spread at Tasty Duck

There are two major sub-variants (cutting styles) we will discuss later but for the purpose of distinguishing “real” Peking duck from other types of duck the main marker is spring pancakes. When served with pancakes it’s “real” and without them it’s usually one of the following:

“Pseudo” Peking Duck

Because Peking Duck is a popular premium dish most restaurants in LA’s amazing Cantonese scene offer it on the menu. However, the vast majority of these, nay, perhaps all, offer what I am calling “Pseudo” Peking Duck. This dish, somewhat beyond the already bloated scope of this article, is a variant of Cantonese Roast Duck, typically cooked in the Cantonese BBQ manner and served with steamed buns, hoisin, cucumbers, and spring onions. It’s a close cousin, and often delicious, but the duck itself is prepared differently, cut differently, and served differently. The buns do not offer the sublime minimalist carbohydrate balance of the pancake. The hoisin is usually sweeter, the duck is generally plated with shrimp chips, and most importantly the skin is never quite so crispy. Pseudo Duck can be delicious, but it’s just not the same thing.

Pseudo Peking Duck with buns at Longo Seafood

Cantonese Roast Duck

This delicious dish is offered at nearly every Cantonese, dim sum, and Chinese BBQ joint in the city. It’s great, but it’s not Peking Duck. This duck is usually rough chopped with a cleaver (Chinese knife) and soaking in jus. It’s very moist and at it’s best has a very satisfying fatty skin. If it has any condiment it’s just some sweet (orange) plum-based sauce.

Cantonese Roast Duck at Bistro 1968

Sichuan (or other) Tea Smoked Duck or Nanjing Cured Duck

I’m not sure if smoking counts as roasting, but many central Chinese restaurants, particularly from Sichuan, Hunan or Yunnan will offer a tea-smoked duck. As you can tell, I like duck, so I also find this a fabulous dish. The skin is not as crispy and the whole thing is dry with a smoked pastrami-like quality.

Tea-Smoked Duck at Haige-Star

Nanjing Duck is salt cured and also dry, often cold, and has a lovely flavor. It’s not crispy at all.

Nanjing Salted Duck at Nanjing Duck

Peking Duck in Beijing

Aged ducks waiting to be roasted at Country Kitchen in Beijing

I’ve been to Beijing several times but on my most recent visit in 2018 I enjoyed several high end Peking Ducks, most notably at Dadong and Country Kitchen. On previous trips I also ate at a different Dadong, Made in China, and some old school spots. I’ve had high end duck at various places in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and other various other Chinese cities.

Ducks roasting in the wood-fire oven at Country Kitchen in Beijing

Proper Beijing duck in Beijing is never quite replicated here in the states, although we have a few that come close. Over there, the duck is always dry-aged, seasoned, inflated with some kind of compressed or pumped air, often filled with a special broth, then slow roasted for 1-1.5 hours in a wood-fire oven. Here in LA they always use gas ovens. Wood-fire is just too complicated or expensive, probably because of annoying regulations. In China, a duck pit master tends the ducks, moving them around to cook them evenly. After roasting, some special bits of the belly skin are served by themselves with sugar. This is enjoyed as a crunchy snack with a sweet/salty/fatty contrast. The legs and wings are removed, and the breast meat is sliced into little ovals that contain both juicy meat and crispy/fatty skin. The meat skin pieces are combined with hoisin, cucumber, and spring onion inside a spring pancake and enjoyed rolled up. Remaining meat is often (optionally) stir-fried and the carcass is made into duck soup. Realistically, they don’t make YOUR particular duck into duck soup. Previous carcasses, probably from previous days are cooked into big batches of the soup and served on demand.

Table-side carving at Country Kitchen

The Components

Peking Duck consists of several different components, each of which is worthy of separate evaluation:

Skin

The skin should ideally be super crispy/crunchy with just a bit of (mostly rendered) fat. It’s traditionally served by itself and often on parts of the meat. The solo skin can be eaten plain, with a bit of sugar, or dipped lightly in hoisin. It can also be placed inside the pancake roll (which I’ll call a “bing” as explained below).

Crispy skin served atop some meat at Dadong Beijing

Meat

The “meat” of a peking duck consists of three main sub-parts. The most important is the breast, which is served typically in one of two styles in LA (see below) with or without skin. Then there is thigh meat, and at many places the legs and occasionally the wings. The legs (and wings) are eaten mostly by themselves but the breast and thigh bits are generally designed to go inside the rolled pancake (“bing”). Ideally the meat should be juicy and delicious with a distinct duck taste but not an overwhelming gamey or barnyard quality.

The breast meat with attached skin at Country Kitchen

Pancake

A proper Peking Duck comes with ultra-thin delicate warm spring pancakes. In Chinese these are known as Chun Bing 春饼. They should be almost translucent, durable enough to wrap, and add just that touch of carbohydrate goodness to their task of binding together the contents. A “Pseudo” Peking Duck will often be served with steamed buns instead of pancakes. It’s not a Peking Duck. Even worse, some Chinese American places will attempt to serve “Pseudo” Peking Duck (it’s not roasted like a real Peking Duck either) with (store bought) Mexican Tortillas. Not only does this taste terrible, but it’s sacrilegious and offends the food gods.

Spring pancakes at Country Kitchen

Hoisin

Peking duck sauce isn’t a true hoisin, but we will call it that nonetheless. Peking duck sauce is a thick, fragrant sauce commonly used in as a glaze for meat, an addition to stir fry, or as dipping sauce. It is dark-coloured in appearance and sweet and salty in taste. Although regional variants exist, peking duck hoisin sauce is not exactly the same as the Cantonese hoisin, but instead is usually made from Tian Mian Jian (甜面酱), a chef specific blend of fermented yellow soybean paste, fermented wheat, sometimes fruit (like plums), and the oil from roasted ducks in additional to aromatic ingredients. Tian Mian Jian translates to sweet flour sauce and despite it often having the work “bean” in the description is not primary made from beans. It should be salty, savory, a bit sweet, medium thick, and have a hint of medicinal/herbal quality. It should not be too jammy, watery, or too sweet. Interestingly, it’s actually one of the most important elements of the pancake roll (“bing”) even though it should be used sparingly. One of the reasons “Pseudo” Peking Duck is often inferior is the use of Cantonese hoisin, which while good, is not the same. Peking duck sauce (hoisin) is used — sparingly — to flavor the rolled up pancake (bing) and and to flavor meat eaten on its own.

Hoisin (really duck sauce) in the SGV

Accoutrements

Accoutrements are anything else potentially added to the pancake roll (“bing”). Minimally it’s julienned cucumber and spring onion but pickles, melon, and other ingredients are frequently found in China. They make interesting and important combinations of flavor.

Accoutrement dish at Dadong Beijing

Bing (Pancake Roll)

Since the rolled up pancake containing duck meat etc is such an important part of Peking Duck I’m going to give it a name, “bing.” Really, bing just flat cake in Chinese, and chun bing is a spring pancake, but I had to call it something. But regardless, the “bing” is the main event of any Peking Duck. It consists of the spring pancake, lightly coated in hoisin, meat, skin, and accoutrements then rolled up into a thin cigar-like shape, possibly folded over a bit at the ends. All of the above elements are required for a proper “bing” and it is very sensitive to flaws in any of them, particularly the pancake itself or hoisin. The score for this category is about the overall experience of the “bing,” not the individual components themselves. Hoisin should be used sparingly as it can overwhelm other flavors.

Bing prior to rolling at Country Kitchen

Bones

It’s long been possible to get a plate of the “bones” of your duck. This is the hacked up remains of the carcass. Depending on the technique and skill of the carver these can be merely a pile of roasted bones or contain quite a lot of tasty meat. More recently, LA Peking Duck restaurants will stir-fry these bones either with “spicy salt” or cumin. This last seems to be new and non traditional but it is delicious. These stir-fried versions are almost always better than the plate of hacked roasted bones, which is often inedible. One place even stir-fries the duck tails, which are fatty and delicious.

Cumin duck bones at Duck House

Stir-fry

For decades it’s been an option to get parts of the meat that aren’t served on the main plates for the “bing” stir-fried or prepped in some manner. The most common are stir-fried with bean sprouts or lettuce cups. I’ve never liked the bean sprout version. The lettuce cups can be fine. Both have very minimal meat and I rarely order them. This is sometimes called “2 ways.”

Stir-fry with bean sprouts and microscopic duck at Tasty Duck

Soup

Duck soup is often sold in a “3 ways” package with the main event duck, a stir-fry, and the soup. At best it’s a mild chicken-like (but duck) soup with tofu and cabbage. At best it can be pleasant and soothing. At worst the soup is very gamey and kinda nasty.

Duck Soup at Meizhou Dongpo Arcadia

Overall

An overall score takes all the relevant above elements into account, presenting a score of Peking Duck quality at a particular restaurant.

The LA Presentations

In LA, there are three basic methods of presentation, which end up in two “on the table” styles:

Table-side Carving, Beijing Style

In this presentation, only really performed at Chang’An in Tustin and Meizhou Dongpo, the whole duck is brought out and carved up table-side to the amusement of the guests. The breast skin is pulled off and the breast is sliced into ovals with some skin attached. It’s generally served on little white duck plates. The table-side presentation is not just for show — although it certainly is fun — but has material impact on the overall Peking Duck experience. Sliced duck meat, and particularly skin, has a lot of surface area and it cools rapidly. Ducks sliced in the kitchen often linger there for a few minutes and come to the table luke warm.

Table-side carving at Meizhou Dongpo

In the Kitchen, Beijing Style

This is pretty much the same as the table-side style, but the carving is all done in the kitchen and the meat and skin are brought out on plates. It should be noted that one appears to get a lot more meat via the Beijing style carve, regardless of it being table-side or not. Generally there are two full plates of skin and meat as opposed to the bowl cut which seems to be closer to half a duck. Kitchen sliced duck will generally be cooler in temperature than table-side duck, and therefore will be drier and seem fattier (hot fat is always better).

Plated breast meat with skin at Chang’An

The Bowl Cut

Many “classic” LA Peking Duck restaurants bring the duck meat and skin out from the kitchen together on a single large plate. The skinless meat is packed into a soup bowl and then inverted in the center forming a dry packed meat dome. The best skin is cut into rectangular “petals” and arrayed around this dome to form a floral pattern. This system has an efficiency for the kitchen, and does seem to provide some of the crispiest skin in the city (as it’s separate) but the plate is sometimes cool by the time it arrives and the meat is usually lean and dry. Overall, I find it an inferior technique but it does have it’s advocates — namely those who prize the crispy skin above all. There is certainly less meat available via the bowl cut method as it seems to be reserved for the other dishes (that you also have to pay extra for). An additional problem with the bowl method is that there is frequently some delay between carving the duck, arranging the platter, and serving it. The net result is that bowl cut duck is usually not very warm, sometimes room temperature. Hot duck means hot duck fat and is much superior.

The Bowl Cut at JiRong

The Rankings

Overall ranking is just an order but all of the other categories are rated 1-10. Currently included are only Peking Duck specialty restaurants serving “Real” Peking Duck that I have visited recently and reviewed in detail.

Restaurant	Overall (of 7)	Bing	Skin	Meat	Pancake	Hoisin	Accoutrements
Chang’an	1	7	6	10	10	8	9
Bistro Na	2	7	8	9	10	7	9
Array36	3	7	5	9	9	7	8
Meizhou Dongpo Arcadia	4	7	6	9	8	7	8
Ray’s Duck House	5	8.5	9	7	10	9	3
Duck House	6	8	9	6	8	8	9
JiRong	7	8	7.5	5	9	8	7
NC Peking Duck	8	6	9	8	9	5	7
Happy Duck	9	4	8.5	5	5	6	4
Tasty Duck	10	6	4	5	9	9	8

Restaurant: Chang’An Tustin

Location: 13051 Newport Ave, Tustin, CA 92780. (949) 324-5558

Last visited: December 10, 2022

Chang’An has a dedicated duck oven and aging cabinet that can be seen by the guests just like top places in China. Besides being a fantastic high end Chinese restaurant, they have superlative duck, arguably the best I have tried in Southern California. It’s brought table-side, covered in Chinese rice liquor and lit on fire to crisp. Then it’s carved up traditionally. Half of it is smoked too. Decor and service here are amazing. Ducks must be preordered and only one is allowed per table for some mysterious reason.

The Skin was thin and mildly crispy, aged ducky flavor, served with traditional brown sugar. But still this way of doing the duck, better for the meat, compromises the skin ever-so-slightly = 6.

Meat was served 2 ways, both with some skin on the white meat, straight up = 10 where it was really juicy and full of flavor.

A second half of the meat was served smoked which was very different, a bit more like ham, and quite lovely = 9.

Pancake was thin and translucent and there were plenty of them = 10.

Hoisin was good to great. Slightly thin maybe, sweet and savory, quite pungent = 8.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual plus pear = 9.

The bing together was a 7/10 or perhaps 8/10 as I didn’t pack it right. I should have made a second but I didn’t want the extra carbs.

Extra bonus for table side, duck stand, flaming duck, and smoking!

A full review of Chang’An can be found here.

Restaurant: Bistro Na

Location: 9055 E Las Tunas Dr #105, Temple City, CA 91780. (626) 286-1999

Last visited: March 24, 2024

Bistro Na briefly (first half of 2024) was offering some of the best duck around, almost certainly the best in the SGV. For some mysterious reason in the second half of 2024 the duck is on “pause” — they claim due to sourcing — but I don’t get it.

They carve table-side. We ordered 2!

Extensive condiments for the duck.

Really nice thin spring pancakes.

The breast and skin, served by itself with sugar. Really crispy and nice.

Sugar for the skin. And great hoisin.

The main meat. The duck was great. 2nd best duck I’ve had in Southern California. All the elements were really good.

The bones return salt and pepper. Heads split in half. A bit too much of the bone and head thing but tasty.

Restaurant: Array36 – 36宴

Location: 5449 Rosemead Blvd, Temple City, CA 91776. (626) 866-0623

Last visited: July 21, 2024

Finally, about an hour late, our Peking duck arrived. They do it like Chang’an, lighting it on fire with Baiju.

Just the skin. It was good, but not quite as crispy as it should have been.

Meat itself was delicious and juicy.

Some of the meat was smoked, which is very enjoyable.

This added more (smoky) flavor, of course.

We brought oodles of caviar for the duck.

The condiments were solid.

A full review can be found here, but Array36 is a very solid place.

Restaurant: Meizhou Dongpo Arcadia

Location: 400 S Baldwin Ave #2045, Arcadia, CA 91007. (626) 538-4136

Last visited: December 4, 2022

MDP is right up there for best Peking duck in Southern California and for LA residents, with both Arcadia and Century City locations is far more convenient than Chang’An. They also carve the duck table-side, albeit without any flaming show or smoked second half. The also employ the Beijing style cut. This is a very modern Chinese chain with (particularly in Arcadia) a very elegant and fancy modern Chinese build out. Unfortunately both branches are located in Westfield malls which makes for annoying parking and crowds. They have very nice private rooms and service can be top notch.

Century city is very similar to Arcadia. The duck is essentially the same but the decor isn’t quite as nice and they don’t have the same great private rooms. They do however have a fabulous patio.

The skin was very thin and crispy but there was less of it because of the split skin cut = 6.

Meat was super juicy, even a touch pink, with real jus. Excellent. Some was served with the skin on = 9.

Pancake was thin and resilient, but -1 ding for being folded (may cause sticking) = 8.

Hoisin was very good, but a touch savory = 7.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual, but extra point for sugar (for the skin) = 8.

The bing together was a 7/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.

The bones are solid and available in cumin stir-fry.

Duck soup was very pleasant and mild = 8

Extra bonus for table side carving!

A full review of MDP (Century City) can be found here.

Restaurant: Ray’s Duck House晶瑞轩海鲜酒楼

Location: 4721 Chino Hills Pkwy, Chino Hills, CA 91709. (909) 606-9046

Last visited: January 26, 2022

The overall spread at Ray’s. They used the modern Beijing cut (in the kitchen) and brought it out on the usual two white duck plates. Ray’s serves a really first rate Peking Duck (even if the leg’s and wings were missing). All of the top three places (Ray’s included) are very good and slightly different. Here the skin is the best of any of the modern cut places being delightfully thick and crispy.

In addition, at lunch they have a really excellent dim sum service. Really excellent. The only problem is that the restaurant is located very far east, about 50 miles from Santa Monica! It’s a shame that 2 of the top 3 places are extremely far from LA proper. I have to come back and try the Cantonese banquet dishes and seafood.

Skin was thick, crunchy, airy, and quite spectacular, both the separate parts and the bits on the meat — it was all crunchy! = 9. I actually think this skin was even slightly better than the Happy Duck skin. The fact that the skin on the meat bits was also crunchy was incredible.
Meat was served mostly moon cut with the skin, some dark meat by itself. The wings and legs were missing. And while the meat wasn’t as juicy as MDP it was very very tasty with great duck flavor. Probably the third best meat = 7.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual. This was the weakest element as they had been cut the previous day (most likely) and were dry = 3. However, in the bing it was hard to tell.

Hoisin was great. It wasn’t goopy thick, nor too sweet, and had fabulous on-point flavor = 9.

Pancake was thin and translucent and there were plenty of them = 10.

The bing pancake together was excellent largely due to all the ingredients other than the scallions being first rate = 8.5/10.

Duck Soup was bland although at least not unpleasant = 4.

Bones were on the menu, but they didn’t think we needed them = N/A.

A full review of Ray’s is in the works.

Restaurant: Duck House Restaurant 鹿鼎記

Location: 501 S Atlantic Blvd, Monterey Park, CA 91754. (626) 284-3227

Last visited: September 30, 2024

Duck House is one of the SGV’s classic… well you guessed it… duck houses. Hostess and owner Catherine used to operate Tasty Duck but moved years ago to this location and she’s one of the best hostesses in town. Not only do they serve great Peking Duck but they have a wonderful all around menu. The decor is excellent in the height of 2000ish Monterey Park style and they have nice private rooms. They prepare the duck in the kitchen with a gas oven and then serve it using the SGV “bowl cut” style. Bones and even duck tails are available a number of ways as I’m sure are stir-fries and duck soup.

Skin was very thick and crispy, really delicious = 9.
Meat was dry without the skin, but fairly pleasant flavor = 6.
Pancake was thin and translucent, but a bit sticky = 8.

Hoisin was very good. Not too thick, sweet and savory, with a hint of medicinal tone but not off-putting = 8.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual plus a spread of pickles, mustard sauce, corn flakes, and raw garlic = 9. These extra four condiments were specially prepared for us by the owner, they aren’t always available, but is totally worth asking about!
The bing together was a 8/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component.

Bones are very good both salty and cumin style.

The duck tails are to die for. Little bits of super crispy fat!

Duck wings are another option.
Extra bonus incredible service!

A full review of Duck House is available here.

Restaurant: Ji Rong Peking Duck

Location: 8450 Valley Blvd Suite 115, Rosemead, CA 91770. (626) 280-8600

Last visited: July, 2022

In recent years, Ji Rong has risen to be one of Alhambra’s “go to” places for Peking Duck. You must order ahead here and they serve using the “bowl cut” method, but it’s very dependable and they offer a vast array of modern Beijing food that is quite excellent. This includes a variety of western and Sichuan influenced dishes. It’s very popular and feels very 2010s SGV. The “private rooms” are merely separated areas to the side of the main dining room and it can be quite loud. Service is very efficient but young employees sometimes seem at the mercy of the kitchen staff. They have three ways and all that.

Ji Rong skin was very crispy and some of the pieces that were thick were about as good as Happy Duck, however there was a slight funk to it so -1. point for that = 7. Thick pieces maybe an 8.

Meat was packed in a bowl, no skin. White meat was medium dry, also with a slight funk = 4, but the dark meat was better = 7. They do offer the legs with the main dish.

Pancake was thin and resilient = 9.
Hoisin was very good with really nice balance, not perfect, but extremely good = 8.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual = 7.
The bing together was a 8/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that.

A full review of Ji Rong can be found here.

Restaurant: NC Peking Duck 老北方烤鸭店

Location: 17515 Colima Rd Unit A, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 839-0000

Last visited: October 27, 2022

In just the last few years there have been more and more great Chinese restaurant openings in the “far SGV” (Hacienda Heights, Rowland Heights, City of Industry). NC Peking Duck isn’t the fanciest, but it is a Peking Duck specialty place with a broad menu of Northern Chinese Cuisine and very modern Beijing Style duck. They have a couple of minimalist private rooms and excellent service as well as many great dishes. The duck itself is served in the Beijing Style, but carved in the kitchen. Ducks should be pre-ordered.

NC skin was ultra-thin and crispy, and gets an extra point for some of the pieces having some meat/fat on them = 9 for fatty pieces and 7 for regular ones.

Meat was juicy and flavorful with skin on = 8. On some occasions they plate in the really “classic” double duck dish style.

Pancake was thin and resilient = 9.

Hoisin was tasty but “goopy”, extra thick, and with a bit too much medicinal tone = 5.

Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual = 7. Before the pandemic they offered this incredible 9 way deluxe accoutrement spread, which would have earned a 10! Hopefully they bring it back.

The bing together was a 6/10, dinged mostly by the hoisin.

They offer cumin bones.

Or very meaty “chopped” bones.

A full review of NC Peking Duck is available here.

Restaurant: Happy Duck House

Location: 18210 Gale Ave, City of Industry, CA 91748. (626) 581-4747

Last visited: October 27, 2022

Happy Duck is also located out in the far SGV. As a restaurant I’m not that much of a fan. It’s just a little mom and pop place with no atmosphere and a fairly boring mixed “duck house” and Cantonese menu. Others like it better. It’s not bad at all, just not exciting to me (no spicy dishes). However they do offer “Real” Peking Duck and it’s pretty decent. Service is very friendly. Ducks should be preordered.

Happy Duck skin is unusually crispy and delicious, almost spongy = 8.5 (some people in our group think a 9). This skin has its devotees and some people thing it’s the best skin in the city — certainly it’s very good skin. They have a special “torching” technique here that crisps up the skin.
Meat was dry and served packed into a rice bowl and served as a dome (no skin) = 5.
Pancake was house-made but chewy and uneven, really disappointing = 5.

Hoisin was very sweet but tasty, with a strong medicinal taste = 6.
Accoutrements featured fresh spring onions but flabby cucumbers = 4.
Bing with everything rolled up was a 4/10, dinged hugely for the pancake and hoisin.

Like most duck places they have duck soup.

And duck and bean-sprout stir-fry, which is pretty bland and dry.

A lot of duck houses also have eel sticky rice and this is actually the best version of this dish I’ve ever had. Eel was perfectly cooked and the rice was great too.

A full review of Happy Duck is available here.

Restaurant: Tasty Duck

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd, San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Last visited: November 16, 2022

Tasty Duck was one of our “go to” duck places for around a decade and it’s located in a small, crowded, not-particularly-attractive space in the center of Alhambra. Ducks should be preordered and they traditionally served in the “bowl cut” style. The last time we went they had new owners and tried to cut table-side in the Beijing Style and made a real hack job of the duck. They offer 3 ways and we did “up the ante” by bringing half a pound of fresh caviar.

Skin was very thin, oily, and not very crispy. And there wasn’t that much of it = 4.

Meat was juicy, but was gamey, luke warm, and not particularly appealing. Attached skin was soggy = 5.

Pancake was thin and translucent = 9.
Hoisin was absolutely first rate. Not too thick, sweet and savory, with a hint of medicinal tone but not off-putting = 9.
Accoutrements were scallion and cucumbers as usual, but extra point for sugar and melon = 8.

The bing together was a 6/10 because the pancake/hoisin is the most important component of that. Caviar was BYOC so not normally available.

Duck soup was terrible with a barn-like flavor = 2.

Duck stir-fry. Bleh. I don’t get this dish.
Extra bonus for table side carving — although it was a duck massacre!

A full review of Tasty Duck is available here.

As the Southern California duck situation evolves I will continue to update this page. In addition I may list places with “Pseudo” Peking Duck and revisit fusion restaurants with Peking Duck like Merois, Mr. Chow, and Chinois. There are also a couple places I haven’t been in a long time, like Shin Beijing, which serve a Peking Duck somewhere between “real” and “pseudo” or just some places like Moon House that serve passable (real) Peking Duck but are of a lesser status so I haven’t rolled into the grid.

Last Updated: January 3, 2023.

By: agavin
Comments (10)

Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Beijing Duck, Chang'An, Chinese Food, duck, Duck House, Duquest, Happy Duck, Ji Rong, Lunch Quest, Meizhou Dongpo, NC Peking Duck, Peking Duck, Roast Duck, SGV, Tasty Duck

Tasty Duck X 5

Aug17

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: November 28, 2021

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck — rest is a touch boring

Tasty Duck is a regular spot with my Hedonist food and wine club. We used to come here all the time. There are other duck places and it’s always the same so it’s less frequent, but as we went here post pandemic I figured I’d give them a new write up.

The interior is jammed and the turnover is high. There isn’t even a space inch to stand while waiting for a table as the serves need what little space there is to reach the tables. Although tonight being Sunday, the crowds died down by 8pm.

The current menu. Like many places right now reduced to take out format.

Cold plate with Poached Chicken, Jellyfish, Sweet Bran Cubes, and delicious Processed Meat Slabs.

Squirrel fish. This is the super fried fish in the super sweet red sauce.

Walnut shrimp. Always a favorite. I don’t dig the pineapple.

Spicy Razor Clams with Cucumbers. Delicious with a bit of mala. One of the best dishes.

The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged. We had two plates of these per table and it was a feeding frenzy!

Here are the traditional accompaniments, starting with excellent pancakes. One mystery question I must ask: why do Chinese restaurants insist on putting far too few pancakes and too little hoisin sauce on the table?

Scallions and cucumber.

Hoisin. It is good here.

A pancake in the making.
Bean Sprouts and Duck. Good for what it is.

Cumin Duck Bones. Lots of flavor.

Cumin Lamb. Nice and spicy.

Pork hock. Some kind of crazy pig leg. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.

Pork Meat Ball Soup. Like Matza Ball Soup, but with porky meat balls. Same texture. Super delicious but seething with MSG.

Mixed Vegetables. Terrible. Weird taste.

Chocolate Butterfinger Crunch Gelato – The base is made with Valrhona 62% Satilla Chocolate and then layered with Dark Chocolate Peanutbutter Cream Cheese Ganache and chopped Butterfingers! — made by me for @sweetmilkgelato — #SweetMilkGelato #gelato #dessert #icecream #FrozenDessert #nomnom #dessertlovers #dessertporn #icecreamlovers #gelatoitaliano #foodporn #gelatolover #food #foodgasm #foodblogger #dessertgasm #desserttime #foodphotography #gelatoartigianale #gelatomania #dessertlover #icecream #icecreamlovers #Valrhona #chocolate #creamcheese #ganache #icing #peanut #butterfinger

Overall, another fantastic meal. Tasty Duck isn’t the most adventurous SGV place, but they do an excellent job. They were super friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period. Tonight was better than on some of the overcrowded Saturday’s when they don’t have as much bandwidth for us.

The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. Although I have been disappointed in the hoisin sometimes. Some other dishes, like the pork hock and razor clams are very good too. A few others just so so, like the shrimp. Tasty Duck is all about the duck. But I do think Ji Rong is quite a bit better at this current moment in time.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Tagged as: BYOG, Gelato, hedonists, Peking Duck, SGV, Tasty Duck, Wine

Tasty Duck X 4

Mar16

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3, 4]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: February 28, 2015

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

Tasty Duck is a regular spot with my Hedonist food and wine club.

NV Billecart-Salmon Champagne Brut Rosé. VM 92. Pale orange. High-pitched red berry, orange zest and jasmine aromas, with suave mineral and smoky lees notes adding complexity. Spicy and precise on the palate, showing very good punch to its strawberry and bitter cherry flavors. Opens up smoothly with air and picks up a bitter rhubarb quality that lingers onto the long, tightly focused finish. This bottling showed more brawny character than many past renditions of this cuvée, but with no lack of vivacity.

The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged. We had two plates of these per table and it was a feeding frenzy!

A pancake in the making. For some reason tonight the hoisin seemed saltier and less sweet than usual, so wasn’t quite as good. The meat was awesome as always.

From my cellar: 2011 Coche-Dury Bourgogne Blanc. VM 88. The 2011 Bourgogne is an excellent introduction to the domaine. Tension, energy and focus are the signatures in a wine that announces the Coche-Dury house style beautifully. Citrus and white flowers abound on the finish.

agavin: I brought this way overkill pedigree, which had a long citrus finish. Very nice.

Cold appetizers. Spicy beef, seaweed salad, cold chicken.

2006 Sine Qua Non The Hoodoo Man. VM 94. Sine Qua Non’s 2006 White Wine The Hoodoo Man is insanely beautiful. Remarkably fresh for a nine year old white, the 2006 The Hoodoo Man will change readers’ perceptions about what California white wines are and can be. A rich mélange of apricot, peach, honey and exotic white flowers graces the palate as this voluptuous, intense, yet remarkably vibrant wine shows off its utterly compelling personality. Slightly reductive, the 2006 needs a good bit of air. Today, the 2006 shows no signs whatsoever of fading. It should continue to drink well for another 5-10 years. The Hoodoo Man can only be called an absolute triumph in viticulture and winemaking. Time and again, I thought I had mixed up my glasses and that this was 2013 White Wine Résisté. The Hoodoo Man is 39% Roussanne, 31% Viognier and 30% Chardonnay; 75% from John Alban’s vineyard and 25% from Eleven Confessions. The wine was aged in 58% new oak, the rest 1-2 year-old barrels and a dollop of stainless steel.

French style Beef. Extremely tender and delicious, almost sweet, morsels of filet.

2012 Maurice Schoech Riesling Kaefferkopf. Middle dry.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple! Not my favorite rendition of this dish. Still good, but I can live without the pineapple. We’ve gotten spoiled.

2012 Dönnhoff Oberhäuser Leistenberg Riesling Kabinett. Vinous 87. Nectarine, pine nuts and lemon oil on the nose. Delicate tropical fruit flavors are brightened by a salty twang. Refreshing acidity gives a feminine character to the finish. Nicely balanced.

Duck part 2 (with bean sprouts).

2010 Cherry Pie (Hundred Acre) Pinot Noir Stanly Ranch Vineyard. VM 90. The appropriately named 2010 Cherry Pie offers up juicy red cherries, mint, cinnamon and cloves. In this vintage, the Cherry Pie has tons of energy and minerality to support the racy, sleek fruit. Sweet floral notes add lift on the finish. The 2010 is a gorgeous, exuberant Cherry Pie with great balance and overall harmony.

agavin: a very contentious wine at the table. Ron and I thought it tasted like cherry cough syrup. Way too high alcohol for pinot noir to my Burgundy pallet. Those who like more of a sledgehammer to the face loved it.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings (XLB). Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth. We got 2 orders of these.

2012 Louis Jadot Gevrey-Chambertin. Burghound 89-91. A ripe yet markedly cool and restrained nose offers up notes of cassis, spice, earth, underbrush and menthol. There is a lovely mineral streak to the rich and relatively large-scaled flavors that possess excellent mid-palate concentration and plenty of verve on the complex and impressively persistent finish. This is a fine Gevrey villages and worth your attention plus it is sufficiently pliant to enjoy young but should reward longer term cellaring as well.

agavin: just super young one note village Burg. Not bad, but way too primary for my taste.

Simple vegetables. These barely had sauce, but yet were surprisingly yummy. They did have an “oil” flavor (in a good way) and were very light and crunchy.

2009 Château Branaire-Ducru. VM 92+. Red with a pale rim. The fruity nose hints at macerated red cherries, bitter chocolate and dried herbs. Then big, fat and soft on the palate, with fresh, harmonious acidity providing adequate lift to the black cherry, chocolate and sweet spice flavors. The long, plush finish offers a concentrated coffee and red fruit cocktail quality. Still very young and likely to develop more complexity. As good as this is, Branaire-Ducru is one estate where the 2010 will likely turn out to better than the 2009.

A very nice mixed fried rice.

2013 Sine Qua Non Grenache ♀. Super massive and extracted grape juice.

Pork hock. Some kind of crazy pig leg. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.

See the meat.

Giving her the bone!

2009 E. Guigal Châteauneuf-du-Pape. VM 92. Deep red. Potent cherry, redcurrant and floral scents are given a musky, earthy touch by a hint of rhubarb. Sappy, sweet and broad on entry, then tighter in the mid-palate, offering bitter cherry and raspberry preserve flavors and a touch of licorice. The clinging finish is shaped by silky, even tannins and given bite by a hint of cracked pepper.

Corn soup. Meat, peas, corn, carrots, egg. Super simple. Incredibly delicious. I don’t know what it was about this soup, both flavor and texture, but I had 3 bowls!

1994 Bodegas Muga Rioja Torre Muga. VM 94+. Bright, deep red. Expressive aromas of red- and blackcurrant, plum, tar, tobacco, and nutty, spicy oak. Sweet entry, then very concentrated and silky; really expands in the mouth. Strong acidity gives the flavors a penetrating, lively quality. Very long, subtle finishing flavors supported by firm but not harsh tannins. As suave as this extremely impressive wine is right now, it will be better for several years of additional bottle aging.

agavin: certainly my red wine of the night, as it had age and complexity. Really nice.

Lamb with green onions. A nice tender lamb.

2006 Inniskillin Vidal Icewine Niagara Peninsula VQA. GV94+. #1; COLOR-medium to dark golden; NOSE-pineapple jam exploding; apricot; mango; exotic; this is seductive; gorgeous nose; canned peaches; PALATE-huge viscosity; almost like cream; completely coats your palate; gorgeous pineapple; peach and apricot; the delicious factor is simply off the charts; virtually almost impossible not to like this; the fruit is fantastic; I would like a little more acidity, but this is delicious

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, but VERY sweet and VERY fried.

2013 Larkin Cabernet Franc.
Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho. The shell was a bit chewy and tough, which detracted.

The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. Although I was disappointed in the hoisin tonight. Some other dishes, like the pork hock, and the XLB were amazing too. A few others just so so, like the shrimp. Tasty Duck is all about the duck.

Also, as usual for Chinese, the order of the food is so crazy from a wine perspective nothing really matches up right.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: hedonists, Peking Duck, SGV, Tasty Duck

Forget the Duck Soup, More Meat!

Mar04

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: February 28, 2015

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

Tasty Duck is a regular spot with my Hedonist food and wine club. Tonight is not only duck night, but “high” (or at least higher) end wine night.

The interior is jammed and the turnover is high. There isn’t even a space inch to stand while waiting for a table as the serves need what little space there is to reach the tables.

NV Charles Mignon Champagne Cuvée Comte de Marne Millésime Grand Cru. 90 points. Medium(-) lemon, fine sub-mm bubbles enamanating from numerous point sources. Medium(-) aromas of lemon, cooked green apple and biscuit. Dry, medium(+) tart acidity, medium(-) body and alcohol (@12.5% abv). Medium flavors of green apple, lemon, mineral, and touch honey/biscuit. Focused finish, medium length with cutting finish. Soft delicate mousse. Great as aperitif.

Hoisin sauce and green onions.

From my cellar: 2000 Domaine Ramonet Bienvenues-Bâtard-Montrachet. Burghound 93. Surprisingly open and expressive with wonderfully complex and nuanced aromas that reveal a dazzling array of floral and fruit elements followed by rich, ripe and somewhat more full-bodied flavors than usual but the additional weight is more than buffered by the racy finishing acidity and almost painfully intense back end. This is presently a good deal more forward than the ’00 Bâtard though there is clearly enough material to suggest that this will benefit from another 3 to perhaps 5 years in the cellar.

agavin: our bottle was round, open, with caramel notes. Mature and delicious.

Cumin lamb. Strong, but not spicy. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.

A 1971 Riesling Kabinett. I can’t even find this on Cellar Tracker. I think this was more than a bit past by my standards.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple! Not my favorite rendition of this dish. We’ve gotten spoiled.

1976 Hugel et Fils Gewurztraminer Vendange Tardive SGN Sélectionneé par Jean Hugel. 92 points. Metallic nose like wet pennies with some candied nuts. Earthy funk initially this really started gaining weight in the glass coming up with some ripe red apple notes later on. Still good and interesting to drink.

agavin: this one was pretty good, if fully mature.

Sauteed A Chop. We had no idea what “a chop” was but it’s apparently some kind of boc choy? Anywhichway it was a pretty good garlicky green.

From my cellar: 1990 Georges Noellat Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Boudots. agavin 89. At first this was lean with a bit of a funky/cork vibe. After about 30 minutes this blew off and I found it rather nice and enjoyable, if fully mature.

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.

2007 Forey Père et Fils Nuits St. Georges 1er Cru Les Perrières. Burghound 90. Here the aromas run more toward cassis flowers along with pretty and wild red berry fruits that are followed by rich, full and quite minerally middle weight flavors that are beautifully detailed, textured and solidly persistent, all wrapped in a subtle oak influenced finish. I like the intensity here and the balance is impeccable and if not a wine of great depth, there is enough here to be more than just interesting.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings (XLB). Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth. We got about 4 orders of these.

2006 Kosta Browne Pinot Noir Russian River Valley. Burghound 87. A high-toned raspberry and cranberry fruit nose that also displays subtle spice and menthol hints introduces round, supple and easy to like flavors up until the finish that is overtly warm if attractively sappy. Be sure to keep this cool because the warmth really comes up if the temperature rises even slightly.

2011 Tamarack Cellars Cabernet Sauvignon. 89 points. Plum notes, pepper spell on opening, strong tannins. Decanted for 4 hours and opened up. Probably should not decant more than an hour.

French style Beef. Extremely tender and delicious, almost sweet, morsels of filet.

2011 Charles Krug Winery (Peter Mondavi Family) Cabernet Sauvignon Yountville. 86 points. The heavy tastes were present: some cocoa, some tobacco, some rose hip. But none of the lighter stuff needed to even it out. The nose was quite nice and lighter than the palate. Mouthfeel was a bit too sharp.

Sticky rice with BBQ eel. A new dish. The eel was great. The rice had a nice texture, but the flavor was a bit earthy?

2005 Canon la Gaffeliere. Parker 94. For opulence, decadence, and sexiness, this 2005 is hard to resist. One of the vintage’s most flamboyant efforts, it is a gorgeous blend of 55% Merlot, 35% Cabernet Franc, and 10% Cabernet Sauvignon. With a stunningly exotic nose of espresso roast, a juicy meat and herb concoction, spice box, chocolate, incense, and copious quantities of sweet, ripe black cherry and blackberry fruit, this full-throttle St.-Emilion exhibits good structure (because of the vintage’s sound acid levels) and high, but velvety tannin. It is a brilliant effort from proprietor Stephan von Neipperg. I would not discount its aging potential as the 1990, which I thought would have a short aging curve, is still going strong at age 18. The 2005 should easily last 20-25 years. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2030.

Oyster mushrooms. These looks and felt a bit like Shanghai rice cakes. They were pretty delicious though.

2008 Alban Vineyards Grenache. Parker 93-95. The 2008 Grenache is just plain beautiful at this stage. A striking bouquet redolent of dark red fruit, flowers and spices melds into a core of textured fruit. This is all purity and finesse. I can hardly wait to taste the finished wine. This is very fresh for a wine that has been in barrel for nearly three years. The 2008 Grenache is 98% Grenache and 2% Syrah. Anticipated maturity: 2016-2018.

Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho. The shell was a bit chewy and tough, which detracted.

2004 Dal Forno Romano Valpolicella Superiore. Parker 93. Sweet, open aromatics lead to hints of dark blueberries, blackberries, spices and minerals as the 2004 Valpolicella Superiore gradually opens in the glass. Today the wine comes across as shut down, but the imposing tannins are also rather fine, suggesting that with time the wine’s inner sweetness will gradually emerge. Readers who want to try their luck with this wine earlier should open the bottle a good eight hours or so prior to drinking it. Anticipated maturity: 2012-2019.

agavin: even having been open and decanted for hours, it was still massive.

Pork hock. Some kind of crazy pig leg. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.

A very nice mixed fried rice.

This ancient 1959 Beerenaulese came out like motor oil. Ridiculously dark. It wasn’t perfectly balanced, but it was surprisingly likable if you have a taste for the sweet and thick like I do.

Pan fried noodles. A bit greasy, but okay.

1989 Raymond-Lafon. Parker 91-92. The 1989 exhibits aromas of honeyed pineapple/tropical fruit and toasty new oak, as well as an exotic, flashy perfume that is not as pronounced in either the 1990 or 1988. The 1989 exhibits less botrytis than the other two vintages. The wine possesses an opulent, full-bodied, exotic, lavishly rich personality, moderate sweetness, and huge quantity of extract, glycerin, and alcohol in its finish. The wine is also extremely young and unevolved. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2025.

agavin: Nice, although a little unbalanced.

Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $42 a person! “Inflated” because of our multiple ducks. They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period, but the restaurant was a bit over busy and the duck came the microsecond we sat down. It was frustrating to be dealing with opening the wine, pictures, and the like and to be launched into the feeding frenzy. In previous trips we’ve had the cold appetizers. Then they got going a little too fast with the food. We had to tell them to slow down (which they did). Plus as we were jammed into the back corner and there was only one narrow entrance point the overworked servers had trouble handling the “basics” like water, plate changes and the like. As the place emptied out they caught up a bit. They certainly try hard and are extremely nice. It was just too crowded and too little space.

The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. Some other dishes, like the pork hock, and the XLB were amazing too. A few others just so so, like the shrimp. The eel was interesting, and a nice addition. Tasty Duck is all about the duck.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA Chinese reviews click here.

Instead of the mild Chinese desserts we headed over to Salju for some shave ice:

Pineapple snow with passion fruit, almond jelly, blackberries, and boba.

Mango snow with strawberries, blueberries, passion fruit syrup and almond jelly.

Coffee snow with coffee jelly, syrup, and almond jelly.

Coconut snow with peanut butter cups, egg custard, and condensed milk.

Green tea snow with chocolate chips.

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Alhambra, California, Chinese cuisine, hedonists, Hoisin sauce, Peking Duck, pork, Salju, Tasty Duck, Wine

Tasty Duck Will Bring You Luck

Sep30

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: September 28, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

My Hedonist food and wine club loves the SGV. This community 20 minutes East of Downtown LA boasts a staggering array of good Chinese restaurants and Tasty Duck is one of our regular spots. Even though its intensely crowded, we shoe horned 23 people in on a busy Saturday night. Of course this meant 11-12 people at tables meant for 8-10, but what’s a little elbow in your pancake among friends?

NV Pierre Péters Champagne Blanc de Blancs Brut Cuvée de Réserve. Burghound 93. A stunningly elegant nose of pure floral, Granny Smith apples, spice and freshly sliced lemon complements to perfection the intense and equally pure flavors that possess excellent punch like remain delicate and ultra-refined on the balanced and persistent finish. The supporting mousse displays a very find bead and the overall impression is one of subtlety and grace. Not only is this a wonderful effort but the value it offers it beyond stunning.

Cold appetizers: Jellyfish (top left), wine chicken (top), and beef (bottom). This kind of plate is very traditional in China. The beef was my favorite, marinated, a bit salty, and smoky.

Some white Bordeaux that was beyond gone. Too bad!

The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged. We had two plates of these per table and it was a feeding frenzy!

Here are the traditional accompaniments. Excellent pancakes, hoison sauce, and scallions and apple/pear. One mystery question I must ask: why do Chinese restaurants insist on putting far too few pancakes and too little hoison sauce on the table? We had to ask for refills about four times (which they happily brought).

2006 Sine Qua Non Autrement Dit. 90 points. Very nice blueberry/strawberry nose. not hot on the nose. really nice full palate and mouthfeel with a nice mix of red and blue fruits, and integrated earthiness. did not noticably detect any heat or wood on this. certainly a bigger and different type of rose, but this bottle was nicely restrained and seemed in good balance tonight.

The best American rose I’ve yet had. Rather wonderful.

Cumin lamb. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.

2010 Samuel Billaud Chablis 1er Cru Montée de Tonnerre. Burghound 92. While there is a trace of exotic fruit to the otherwise very pure aromas of white flower, citrus, wet stone and seaweed, this offers ample Chablis character. There is an attractive succulence to the fleshy middle weight flavors that exude a fine minerality on the clean, dry, linear and overtly saline-infused finish. Like the straight Chablis, this too evidences a hint of bitterness though it should pass in time.

French style Beef. Extremely tender and delicious, almost sweet, morsels of filet.

1971 Weingut Paul Ayl Ayler Kupp Riesling Auslese Goldkapsel. Unfortunately a bit over the hill.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings. Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth.

1994 Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Heimbourg Vendange Tardive. Parker 99! These wines are made in frightfully tiny quantities, and are so rich that they make Chateau d’Yquem look like an under-nourished wine. Truly the stuff of legends, these possess 15%-18% residual sugar. All three will age for 40-50 years, but will anyone wait that long? They are “off the charts” in terms of flavor extraction, balance, quality, and the lavish quantity of extract and intensity they possess.

Wine of the night for sure!

Look who’s coming to dinner!

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.

Bok chow and I think mushrooms, hard to tell. Mild but very pleasant.

1990 Comte Armand Pommard 1er Cru Clos des Epeneaux. Burghound 90. Still deeply colored. An expressive, dense, indeed huge nose of roasted, ever-so-slightly stewed fruit that is already showing a great deal of secondary and even tertiary development while the muscular, rich, extracted and solidly complex flavors are underpinned by a tough, firm and very prominent tannic backbone. This is a dramatic bruiser of a wine but it’s not clear that it’s ever going to harmonize as the finish is completely dominated by the structure and given that the fruit is presently much more advanced than the evolution of the tannins, it’s a tough call to say whether the fruit will be able to stand the test of time and this most recent bottle gave no cause for optimism in this regard, indeed it seemed to confirm that this is probably a lost cause. Optimists will continue to hold the ’90 Epeneaux in the cellar as it will certainly be around 30 years from now though whether it will be any more balanced than it is now is the essential question.

Some kind of crazy pork cut. Some serious fat here and the skin was a bit mushy, but the meat fell off the bone and was incredibly tender and delicious.

1970 Bodegas El Coto Rioja Coto de Imaz. Surprisingly good for such an old non-riserva Rioja.

The proverbial, “duck soup” that is the last part of “duck three ways.” Mild and pleasant with some tofu and cabbage. I can also vouch that it was served hot, as a ladleful was poured across my hand and I had to soak my thumb in ice water all night.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple!

Part of “duck three ways”: sprouts with bits of duck meat.

Yarom chomps on the pig bone.

Scallion pancakes.

A very nice mixed fried rice.

Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho.

Sweet egg drop soup.

Eye ball surprise anyone? Actually a very unusual dish. Like egg drop soup but sweet with these big tapioca balls. Pleasant, although continuing the general trend in which Chinese desserts bat about 50.

Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $35 a person! “Inflated” because of our multiple ducks. The service was great (for Chinese). They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over a long period . This is actually fairly unusual as a lot of Chinese restaurants like to slam you out in 45 minutes by dropping everything on the table at once. The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. The other dishes were good too, with almost all of them being very well executed and not greasy.

For more Hedonist adventures or

For more LA dining reviews click here.

Yarom with the owner

By: agavin
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Posted in: Food

Tagged as: Chinese cuisine, duck, Hedonism, Peking Duck, San Gabriel, San Gabriel California, san Gabriel valley, Tasty Duck, Valley Boulevard

Tasty Duck Lives up to its Name

May07

Restaurant: Tasty Duck [1, 2, 3]

Location: 1039 E Valley Blvd. Ste B102. San Gabriel, CA 91776. (626) 572-3885

Date: May 4, 2013

Cuisine: Chinese

Rating: Great Duck!

My Hedonist food and wine club loves the SGV. This community 20 minutes East of Downtown LA boasts a staggering array of good Chinese restaurants.

NV Pierre Peters Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvee de Reserve. Parker 92. The NV Brut Blanc de Blancs Grand Cru Cuvee de Reserve is a gorgeous wine that captures the essence of Chardonnay in the Cote des Blancs. Pure, wiry and wonderfully expressive, the Cuvee de Reserve flows gracefully with layers of varietal fruit from start to finish. This shows superb clarity, depth and polish, particularly at the NV level. The current release is 65% 2007 and 35% reserve wines from a solera cuvee that contains 15 vintages. Roughly 2/3rds of the fruit comes from Mesnil, while the rest is from Cramant, Avize, Oger and Chouilly.

Cold appetizers: Jellyfish (top), wine chicken (right), and beef (left).

1971 Joh. Jos. Prüm Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. Rated 93. On the nose, lots of petrol and cotton candy. On the palate, still some good acidity and sweetness, with lots of tangerine and apricot and a long finish. May be a bit past its prime (storage was not the best according to the person who brought it) but still a lovely wine.

The main event: Peking Duck. Not only was this delectable, with fantastic crispy skin and delicate meat, but it’s artfully arranged.

Here are the traditional accompaniments. Excellent pancakes, hoison sauce, and scallions and apple/pear.

1989 Joseph Drouhin Clos Vougeot.Rated 91. Nice. Spice box nose with decent fruit and silky tannins. Defenite develpemnt. Classy finesse with earthy tones and soft red berries. It took a good hour or two for the fruit to come out, but once it did it was very nice.

Eggplant.

2010 Van Volxem Kanzemer Altenberg Riesling Alte Reben. Parker 93. The stony mineral and piquantly nutty elements present in so many of this year’s Van Volxem offerings are only enhanced when it comes to the ancient-vines 2010 Kanzemer Altenberg Riesling Alte Reben, but so is citricity, to the point where this seems electrically-charged. Mint and green tea remind me a bit of the herbal side that comes out in so many Scharzhofberger of this vintage, while iris and hedge flowers add allure. A satin-textured and rich though vivacious palate impression leads to a clarion, vibratory finishing flavor interaction of floral, herbal, citrus, nut oil, and mineral notes. I would anticipate at least 12-15 years of excitement. Interestingly, at 11.8%, this is slightly lower in alcohol than the other non-sweet wines in the present collection, which are in the lower 12s.

Part of “duck three ways”: sprouts with bits of duck meat.

1996 Domaine Chauvenet-Chopin Nuits St Georges les Murgers. Parker 90-92. This medium-to-dark ruby-colored wine has an expressive nose of cassis, cherries, Asian spices, and minerals. This massive, chewy-textured, full-bodied, and plump wine is rich, concentrated, muscular, and crammed with super-ripe blackberries awash in toasty oak.

Some amazing Shanghai style soup dumplings. Tasty little morsels stuffed with pork and broth.

2005 Camille Giroud Latricieres Chambertin. Parker 93-94. The 2005 Latricieres-Chambertin (purchased partly as grapes and partly as wine) offers a clear, enticing nose of tiny purple plums, blueberries, lilies, beef marrow, and hints of caramel and vanilla. Polished and bright, it exudes the refinement that the Chapelle lacked, leading to a real rush of lingering sweet, caramel- and vanilla-tinged fruit in the finish. The tannins are abundant but ultra-refined. Sock this away for at least a decade and figure on at least an additional decade to hold.

Great wine, although a little young. After 30-60 minutes it opened up and drank very nicely.

Shanghai style BBQ pork ribs. Twice fried (deep and stir) in a sweet and sour sauce. Very good for this dish, with relatively little bone.

1997 Rene Rostaing Cote Rotie. Parker 86-88. The dark ruby-colored 1997 Cote Rotie Cuvee Classique is an evolved, forward, fat wine with cassis and raspberry fruit flavors, medium body, and an easy-going, succulent, luscious, straightforward appeal.

Nice pairing with the lamb below.

Cumin lamb. A typical specimen, but with tender flavorful lamb. Some places border on mouton.

The proverbial, “duck soup” that is the last part of “duck three ways.” Mild and pleasant with some tofu and cabbage.

Their interesting take on “walnut shrimp.” The fried shrimp, sweet mayo sauce, and walnuts is supplemented with pineapple!

Scallion pancakes.

2006 Bressan Schioppettino. Rated 92. Clear ruby in color, with medium plus intensity and moderate consistency. The nose is clean, with medium plus intensity. The nose is quite complex, with aromas of red fruit, orange rind, sage, thyme, menthol, rhubarb, angostura bitters, black pepper, anise, violet and pine forest floor. The nose is developing, of fine quality and constantly evolving in the glass. The palate is dry, with medium plus to pronounced acidity, and flavors generally consistent with the nose. Showing red fruit, peppery spice, herbs and bitter lemon. The alcohol is moderate (-) at 13%. Thee polyalcohols are smooth (-). The tannins are medium to medium plus. The minerality is moderate +. The body is medium +. The flavors are moderately intense +. The finish is moderately persistent +. The wine is moderately balanced; it is skewed slightly towards hardness. The acidity is quite high. It’s almost as a little bit of white wine had been blended in, but the tannins are defintely still there. The palate is fine overall. This wine is ready to drink and approaching maturity, but is likely to have a long drinking window thanks to its structure. It is moderately harmonious + and extremely food friendly.

Crispy whole red cod with sweet and sour sauce. A really nice fish, similar to a couple weeks ago at the Shanghai place.

Fried rice with pineapple, which felt more Thai.

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Beef rolls with BBQ beef and cilantro. Really nice, tasted like rolled up Pho.

NV Minardi Vini Passito di Pantelleria. Rated 88. Not the most balanced Pantelleria I’ve ever had, and medium sweet, like a vin santo, but very pleasant and an excellent pairing with the mild but sweet Chinese desserts.

Red bean or black sesame (I wasn’t sure) pancakes. Tasty (for a Chinese dessert).

A gooey mochi and nut thingy.

Overall, another fantastic meal. The total damage, including tax and a whopping 30% tip was $32 a person! The service was great (for Chinese). They were very friendly and willing to serve us the dishes one at a time over three hours. This is actually fairly unusual as a lot of Chinese restaurants like to slam you out in 45 minutes by dropping everything on the table at once. The duck was first rate, as good as Peking duck gets — more or less. The other dishes were good too, with almost all of them being very well executed and not greasy.

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