The Duck Inn’s Duck Experience (Chicago, Illinois)
The Duck Inn’s Duck Experience (Chicago, Illinois)
by NoodleThings
1 Comment
NoodleThings
Long time Chicago fine dining veteran Kevin Hickey opened the Duck Inn in his hometown when I was still working in the Chicago restaurant scene and I remember it being an instant hit. Since opening, it’s maintained its place as a very fun casual restaurant offering elevated meat and potatoes fare with fine dining touchups.
On the menu was a “Duck Experience” one must order ahead of time in an event reminiscent of the canard a la presse courses at Daniel in NYC/Tour D’Argent/Waterside. On a weekend in Chicago last year I ended up trying out this experience to see what the team was cooking up.
Overall the experience is very fun from a presentation angle – they did quite a bit of the cooking in front of the guest and it was fun to see a duck press actually get used in the states outside of NYC. I used to talk to Michael from George Trois and Roland at Les Nomades about putting a similar course as a special order item but could never really convince them before both restaurants closed sadly.
I felt the food itself was not the greatest though as seasonings and sauces were overly bright and tart – an understandable inclination given the richness of the meal but something that could’ve been balanced more/approached with more restraint. I still remember how disgusting the orange ssamjang sauce for the foie course was as well the overly bitter and salted umeboshi and paprika jus for the confit and duck kielbasa pierogis was (the pierogis themselves weren’t great either). The sauce rouennaise was also a waste despite the amount of effort that surely went into it and overall the experience left me wondering if this prep, while fun, may be best left to chefs with teams more familiar with higher end cooking.
Duck Inn’s still a great place for elevated casual fare and I suspect always will be, Kevin knows what folks like. But experiences like these feel out of his wheelhouse after being off the wagon for so long
1 Comment
Long time Chicago fine dining veteran Kevin Hickey opened the Duck Inn in his hometown when I was still working in the Chicago restaurant scene and I remember it being an instant hit. Since opening, it’s maintained its place as a very fun casual restaurant offering elevated meat and potatoes fare with fine dining touchups.
On the menu was a “Duck Experience” one must order ahead of time in an event reminiscent of the canard a la presse courses at Daniel in NYC/Tour D’Argent/Waterside. On a weekend in Chicago last year I ended up trying out this experience to see what the team was cooking up.
Overall the experience is very fun from a presentation angle – they did quite a bit of the cooking in front of the guest and it was fun to see a duck press actually get used in the states outside of NYC. I used to talk to Michael from George Trois and Roland at Les Nomades about putting a similar course as a special order item but could never really convince them before both restaurants closed sadly.
I felt the food itself was not the greatest though as seasonings and sauces were overly bright and tart – an understandable inclination given the richness of the meal but something that could’ve been balanced more/approached with more restraint. I still remember how disgusting the orange ssamjang sauce for the foie course was as well the overly bitter and salted umeboshi and paprika jus for the confit and duck kielbasa pierogis was (the pierogis themselves weren’t great either). The sauce rouennaise was also a waste despite the amount of effort that surely went into it and overall the experience left me wondering if this prep, while fun, may be best left to chefs with teams more familiar with higher end cooking.
Duck Inn’s still a great place for elevated casual fare and I suspect always will be, Kevin knows what folks like. But experiences like these feel out of his wheelhouse after being off the wagon for so long