It is the high duck in a city full of gentle birds flying below.
The Hong Kong-style roast fowl at the new Cha Cha Tang is one of the best Chinese duck dishes in town.
The restaurant is a winning collaboration between owner John McDonald and partner Wilson Tang. Tang was famously the guiding force behind the revival of the famous but tired Nom Wah Tea Room on Doyers Street in 2010.
However, Cha Cha Tang is not a dim sum place like Nom Wah. It’s a full Cantonese-inspired place steeped in tradition with just a few modern touches.
It brings back the dazzle on the block where Sixth Avenue meets West Houston Street, which lost much of its juice when Da Silvano closed seven years ago.
The comfortable, if noisy, 80-seat location with windows facing the street was formerly the Hancock Street McDonald’s, a good American place but “not a home place,” he laughed.
Tang is “a New York-born kid from Chinatown,” McDonald said of his old friend. “We had been talking for years about doing a Chinese restaurant.”
McDonald also owns the ever-popular Lure Fish Bar, Bowery Meat Co. and Tulix Mexican Bar. He used to own the Chinatown Brasserie on Lafayette Street. He ran out of steam in 2013 and has been looking to open a new Chinese location ever since.
In August, he and Tang turned Hancock Street into a twice-weekly pop-up called Cha Cha Tang. It was such a hit, they decided to transform the place for the whole week.
They made some changes to the dining room, adding red and pink tablecloths, some new upholstery and wall hangings and vintage Chinese pictures. But the changes are subtle.
“We didn’t want it to be overly thematic in an aggressive way,” McDonald said.
Cha Cha Tang offers some popular dim sum dishes, such as crystal plump prawns sizzling with chili oil, but the similarity to Nom Wah ends there.
A large portion of the “chef’s specials” are the heart of the menu. Chef Doron Wong, a veteran of several New York Chinese places, steers a tight ship of cuisine. Everything I had arrived freshly made and expertly executed.
Cantonese Roast Duck ($110 and enough for three or four depending on appetite, also available in half size for $55) is the must-order dish.
Like the Peking duck, it is served with thin wheat pancakes, scallions and Hoisin sauce.
But Wong said that where the Beijing style emphasizes the crispiness of the skin achieved by hanging the birds upside down to air dry, the Cantonese style enhances the flavor by marinating the birds overnight in Chinese five-spice, licorice root and ginger. After cooking, it is painted with red vinegar.
The meat is slightly fattier and cut significantly thicker than usual Peking ducks. The result is a deep, very sweet scent.
It’s so good that my group of four gobbled some of it off the plate without even waiting to wrap it in pancakes.
They usually have eighteen ducks on hand each day and often sell out.
“But people can call to ask us to reserve one in advance,” McDonald said.
Other menu highlights include the gorgeous XO jasmine fried rice with scallops, prawns, lobster and crispy garlic. I also loved the smoky and creamy Macau-style chicken curry made with coconut milk. The “original” egg roll was the best I’ve had in decades, no fat inside a fresh egg crepe.
Brunch is coming this weekend — “a big part of our concept,” McDonald said. It will include the dessert that’s also on the dinner menu: Grilled French Toast with Condensed Milk and Sweet Buttercream.
A “Bloody Mary cocktail cart will roll around the room,” he said. But for me the French toast, sweet, creamy and crunchy, is quite addictive – although not as much as the duck.
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Image Source : nypost.com