Peking duck in a steamed bun with scallions

Ten Things to Love: #10 Peking Duck at CCK, Albany, NY

If I had some very important person coming to town, someone from a superduper foodie place, say, who was going to give me a load of that big-city ruggamaro about all the things we don’t have here (great sushi, Ethiopian restaurants, Vietnamese sandwich shops and on and on), I would wait until the flap-jaw’s mouth was wide open and then stick a piece of CCK’s Peking duck in it.

What you got to say now?
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That’s what I thought.

Peking duck

This is my favorite local dish for entertaining. Call CCK a couple hours ahead of time and order Peking duck for however many people you have. Just to be clear, tell them you want it the way Celina likes it, with the steamed buns and the scallions.

Peking duck from CCK

The duck arrives in succulent slices with gorgeous crispy skin pieces sitting on top. The waitress then assembles individual servings at the table: a steamed bun with a nibble of duck, a piece of skin, scallions and sauce.

We always order it as a starter, and every time I find myself wondering if the guests will notice if I run off with the platter.

Oh, and a side note…

This is probably the best week of the year to get a big group of people together and go out for Chinese food. CCK and Emperor’s on Wolf Road (and I’m sure some other Chinese restaurants as well) have Chinese New Years’ menus this week. For a group of eight -10 people, the price usually comes out to between $10 and $20 a person for a many-course feast. Some of the dishes only make appearance for this one week.

posted January 25, 2009 | link | comments (5)

filed under: Places, Ten Things to Love, Albany, CCK, Peking duck

AllOverAlbany.com

Comments

OMG...I want some...no, I take that back...I need some...crave some....I haven't had really good peking duck since moving to the Capital District...NYC and San Francisco rocked.

Celina, I already am in love with CCK...now even more so.

Thank you for posting this...I'm drooling at my desk.

- by llcwine on Jan 27, 2009 at 8:37 AM | link

Mmm, it's photos of Peking Duck and the like that make it seem like my family is close by.

- by Albany Jane on Jan 27, 2009 at 12:42 PM | link

No great sushi? [ahem]. Heard of Saso's? Sure he's got a bit of soup-nazi in him, but it's because his food is so mm-mmm good. We go, avert our eyes, avoid too much conversation with the tempermental one, and we leave. My snooty out-of-town-friends (including Japanese ones) have been impressed.

- by Alex on Jan 30, 2009 at 1:43 PM | link

I know I'm in the minority here, but I haven't loved the sushi on my visits to Saso's. It was fine, but not great.

Also, I had the worst customer service experience of my eight years in Albany there.

- by celinabean on Feb 2, 2009 at 10:24 AM | link

Good Chinese in Albany - we had all but given up! Thanks for the tip - Can't wait to try it!

- by Jeff Z on Feb 26, 2009 at 10:59 AM | link

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