Peking Duck House, Chinatown and Midtown - Peking Duck and BYOB, Open for Over 35 Years

[weinoo]

Thursday my Mom would prefer not to have a traditional meal and wanted me to investigate eating Chinese in Chinatown (maybe Peking Duck, she loves Peking Duck?). I realize that the best Chinese isn't really there anymore, but let's be honest we are from the country and now live in Arlington and Annapolis and would be thrilled with something pretty good. We have no real plans for the day, not going to the parade, been there done that, etc. If anyone has suggestions for breakfast/brunch/lunch or things we should do?

If you want excellent Peking Duck, you can hardly do better than Peking Duck House. It has been in business for over 25 years at 28 Mott St. in NYC (there's also a midtown location), and I recently reacquainted myself with the place, after a long hiatus, when a friend wanted to go out for"¦guess what?

So off we went, 3 or 4 of us from the building. And all I can say is this place totally rocks - at least for the Peking Duck. I'm not responsible for the rest of your order. Remember, the whole of Chinatown is fairly mediocre; the whys of that are a subject for another post (lousy cooks, shitty ingredients "“ you be the judge).

The way the menu at Peking Duck House is set up, they try to trick you into ordering a lot more food, for a lot more money, than you really need. The "special house dinner," or the "Peking Duck dinner" are just money grabbers, so do as I do. Order a whole Peking duck, a couple of apps "“ say pickled cabbage and mock dock made from tofu skin, a safe vegetable dish (forget about stuff like snow pea leaves "“ not gonna happen) and another stir fry and you'll easily have enough food for 4 people. And it'll end up a lot cheaper than the dinners they put together for you.

Pix and a bit more are here...click.

[ktmoomau]

If you want excellent Peking Duck, you can hardly do better than Peking Duck House. It has been in business for over 25 years at 28 Mott St. in NYC (there's also a midtown location), and I recently reacquainted myself with the place, after a long hiatus, when a friend wanted to go out for"¦guess what?

This was actually where my research has pointed me, as well. Glad to know it is good. I wonder if I need a res, we really don't know what time we want to eat... But I could make a decision. I might give them a call to find out.

[weinoo]

This was actually where my research has pointed me, as well. Glad to know it is good. I wonder if I need a res, we really don't know what time we want to eat... But I could make a decision. I might give them a call to find out.

Not a bad idea to give them a call, but I've never seen a wait of more than 10 or 15 minutes. Make sure you go to the one in Chinatown, though; I've never been to the midtown one and can't vouch for it.

[ktmoomau]

Well the Peking Duck House was really good. I didn't realize it was BYOB until waiting to get in, then luckily I figured it out walked up the street and bought a bottle of wine (the wine selection in Chinatown liquor stores in less than appealing, but oh well). This place has a clean modern interior packed with people and little else.

We got peking duck and green beans with pork sauce. The Peking duck was excellent, crispy skin, tender duck, cut well so you didn't get any bites that weren't a nice combo of skin and meat. The accompaniments were good. I also really liked the green beans and they went along well with the duck. The sauce was nice with good bits of ground pork in a brown gravy.

Service was sparse, but we were happy they could fit us in without reservation. Definitely would recommend it.

[DonRocks]

The way the menu at Peking Duck House is set up, they try to trick you into ordering a lot more food, for a lot more money, than you really need. The "special house dinner," or the "Peking Duck dinner" are just money grabbers, so do as I do. Order a whole Peking duck, a couple of apps "“ say pickled cabbage and mock dock made from tofu skin, a safe vegetable dish (forget about stuff like snow pea leaves "“ not gonna happen) and another stir fry and you'll easily have enough food for 4 people. And it'll end up a lot cheaper than the dinners they put together for you.

The "Peking Duck Dinner," which on the surface sounds like a no-brainer, is $31 per person in Chinatown, and $37 per person in Midtown. Some very rudimentary mathematics shows (by looking at the two different options "For 8 Persons") that they have the Peking Duck priced at the value of 2 entrees.

They don't have the prices on the menu, but assuming the Peking Duck, per person, is less than these prices ... well, I know I'd rather fill up on Peking Duck than General Tso's Chicken. My guess is that they're more than happy to take peoples' money, but they're also readily available for some Peking Duck and BYOB cherry picking - I suspect Burgundy lovers all over Manhattan have gorged on Peking Duck and Volnay here, at very reasonable prices.

I've never been to Peking Duck House, but I'm willing to bet that weinoo's post still applies to this day - some places never change, and that's exactly what you want.