Peking duck, that star of so many Chinese banquets, is all about transmutation. <\/p>\n
It begins as an ordinary duck carcass, with ordinary, flabby skin. By the time it is done hanging to dry and roasting, it becomes unrecognizable. Once white and drooping, the skin glows burnt orange, as glossy as a polished cherry table, ready to shatter in a delicious, oily bite. Duck meat, gamey and juicy, hides beneath.<\/p>\n
On the side, restaurants serve either clamshell-shaped bao or thin, stretchy pancakes. Diners pick them up and smear on a sweet-savory sauce, often sweet bean paste or hoisin. They add duck, then julienned cucumbers and scallions. The bao close like a sandwich; the pancakes roll up. Bite in: It should be fresh, fatty, crunchy and soft, all at once.<\/p>\n
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It\u2019s the sort of food fit for a feast or for a wedding, though most restaurants here also serve more manageable half-duck portions you can split with a friend or two. Here are eight places around Houston we\u2019d recommend getting your fix.<\/p>\n
Note: The Houston Chronicle always pays full price for anything included in our guides.<\/p>\n
Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
A whole duck hits the table at this barebones Asiatown restaurant on a mammoth plate. (Bring friends \u2014 no half-bird here.) Rectangles of detached coppery skin shade a pile of meat from view, and 10 folded, steamed bao circle the display. They\u2019ll be puffy and hot \u2014 but not too hot to pick one up, open it, smear on the hoisin sauce, stack on a few pieces of meat and bite in. The skin breaks with an audible crunch, like a honeycrisp apple. A strong gaminess perfumes the meat. At $42.95, it\u2019s among the best deals you\u2019ll find.<\/p>\n
Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Bamboo House is, in some ways, an airport stop, just 10 minutes from George Bush Intercontinental Airport. Travelers come to eat with luggage in tow. But it\u2019s also an exhibitionist restaurant set up to let diners watch chefs blowtorch duck skin in an open kitchen. Order Peking duck, and waiters first send out a cloudy napa cabbage soup, the duck carcass swimming in the broth. Then comes the centerpiece: neat slivers of duck on a tray with a sculpted duck head. A thin smear of fat separates meat from the crackly skin. And the supple pancakes stretch amply when you inevitably stuff your roll far too full.<\/p>\n
Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Peking duck is so often the highlight of a celebratory meal. So it can seem a little incongruous to sit down with the poultry glistening against a black takeout container at Chung Wang BBQ. Never mind that. The meat here is tender where so many renditions of this dish are chewy. It tends toward the lean side, only the bare hint of fat showing beneath lacquered parallelograms of skin. Pancakes arrive in a generous stack, though if you wait too long, they may start to stick. Best to dig in fast.<\/p>\n
Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Looking to enjoy Peking duck in a sleek, chic setting? Grace and Leo Xia\u2019s restaurant, with locations in Rice Village and in Memorial, will do the trick. Duck N Bao marinates and air-dries its birds for 24 to 48 hours; then chefs roast them and slice the meat into neat strips. The golden skin feels thinner here; the pancakes, pristine buns and juicy, mild meat get a little more time in the spotlight. This is the place to go for a lighter version of Peking duck, one without all the fat and gaminess that sometimes characterize the dish.<\/p>\n
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Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
This gold-and-red Chinese staple in Sharpstown is made for banquets, for massive tables crowded with roast pork belly and jellyfish salad and golden egg yolk soft shell crab. Peking duck, of course, should be the star. Just look at the thick skin, an amber layer of fat-made-solid to crunch through on your way to gamey meat. Choose between bao and pancakes, each the ideal version of itself. Wispy scallions curl on the side. Bring a crowd and throw a party here; this is food worth celebrating.<\/p>\n
Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
The skin on the duck here looks more like glistening, golden maple snow candy than anything that was once part of an animal. Chefs at Johnny Cheung\u2019s Katy restaurant slice their masterpiece into big rectangles, arraying it over the meat so all that\u2019s visible at first glance is that quilt of dehydrated, roasted skin. Diners pull their chopsticks out of custom wrappers stamped with the image of a Peking duck and pick up the pancakes, flexible enough to stretch around a fistful of filling without cracks. Delightfully gnawable salt-and-pepper fried duck bones arrive on the side. On the wall, the text on a drawing of a duck declares, \u201cMy life is good.\u201d When you chomp in, you\u2019ll agree.<\/p>\n
Jody Schmal \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
Tucked between a dentist\u2019s office and an Indian restaurant along the Southwest Freeway, Peking Cuisine has a familial, welcoming feel with lazy-susan tables. The Peking duck, a specialty here, comes with the classic wispy crepes, finely sliced cucumber and scallion, hoisin sauce and a large bowl of rice. Crispy-skin enthusiasts should know the skin is so thin it crackles with each bite. Duck legs are set on the plate for easy picking, too. Ask for the classic napa cabbage soup to go along.<\/p>\n
Aviva Bechky \/ Houston Chronicle<\/p>\n
This Asiatown spot mixes classic Chinese decor with rope- and antler-crowned lighting. Its duck, however, doesn\u2019t stray quite so far from tradition. The first course of duck soup glistens with fat; tofu and chopped napa cabbage bob around the bones. The broth heralds the arrival of the Peking duck itself, pancakes folded in half and arrayed in a fan, skin puffed up over smaller pieces of meat. Sure, the skin is always the star of this dish, but here, it\u2019s doubly so: fatty, crunchy, less like a thin candy shell or brittle toffee than deep-fried pork rinds.<\/p>\n
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