This one's for the old timers - Help me remember

I have no idea why I just remembered this, but now I hope someone can help. I don't know exactly how long ago, but I would guess it was over 25 years ago I went to a restaurant as part of a company party. I'm pretty sure it was on Michigan Ave right around Grand. It may have even been in what at the time was the Sheraton Hotel. I want to say that the name of the place was Kon-Tiki Ports.

I had a dish there that I'm sure is not unique but I don't know what it was and thus have never been able to order it again anyplace else. I remember it being pressed duck based. It was some type of patty. I want to say it was a triangle, but it might have been square. Size-wise it would be about the size of a McDonalds fillet of fish.

I remember it being crispy and sweet. I think the color was orangish. I can't even be sure if it was an entree or an appetizer.

So? What was it? And where can I find a good version of it today? I'm not an adventurous eater so it's possible this is as common as an egg roll and I just don't know it.

I'm sorry, Midas, this doesn't specifically answer your question. But, it is a link to a Kon Tiki Ports menu: http://www.tikiroom.net/gallery/album01/adh with view of the cover, inside page and the dessert page.

Well it does help a little. A confirms the name of the restaurant and the location. That's a start, thank you.

Kon Tiki Ports was for may years in the Sheraton Chicago when it was on Michigan Avenue. That hotel is now the Radisson and is just North of the Tribune Tower. The restaurant was in the "basement", which was actually street level of Grand Avenue, but had to be accessed from the Michigan Avenue entrance to the hotel.

I remember going to Kon-Tiki Ports as a special treat when I worked on Michigan Avenue. It was a favorite place to celebrate birthdays, and I think they had a buffet luncheon. I certainly remember standing in line and picking out certain dishes from the line. Loved the place while it was there.

Alas, looks like a few folks remember the place, but not the dish itself. That's OK, I might have been really drunk and maybe it wasn't really that good

midas wrote:Alas, looks like a few folks remember the place, but not the dish itself. That's OK, I might have been really drunk and maybe it wasn't really that good

Ah, I missed that part of the post. The dish in question was pressed duck. If my menory serves me correctly, it was served with some kind of a sweet cherry based sauce.

There are still a few places around that serve pressed Duck. EvilRonnie started a pressed duck search over on the other board a couple of years ago. I found the dish at Lin's Garden on Milwaukee in Niles. It was served with toasted almonds and broen sauce. Frankly,it was abomniable. I couldn't even eat it. I believe that Ronnie followed up and had a similar experience.

Recently, Ronnie made pressed duck at home. He detailed his account of making it here. Check the search function.

Thanks to all. So it was simply called pressed duck. I said it was some type of pressed duck dish. I didn't know it was THE pressed duck

They might have dressed it up with an extra adjective, like Polynesian Pressed Duck, but it was pressed duck in a sweet-ish cherry based sauce. It was served with an inverted soup cup shaped mound of rice. It was my Kon-Tiki Ports go-to dish. They serve a similar version at Trader Vic's to this day. Come to think of it, Pressed Duck lovers should try the Trader Vic's version. Other than the sweet sauce, it's pretty "authentic".

Thanks Steve, I'm going to have to try it one day.

OK, did a little more research. Found an online menu for Trader Vics and didn't see it listed on the menu. Then I found it referred to elsewhere as Almond Duck. So maybe that's it. But I also see Almond Duck listed on a few Chinese menus that don't sound even remotely close to it. Guess I'll have to some day get downtown and try it there.

I gotta admit, I'm starting to get a craving.

Yes. It's called Almond Duck at TV. It's really pressed duck with an almond flour crust.

hey midas, if you contact chef mike baruch at chefmb@earthlink.net he has the original recipe for that dish!the duck is first braised whole in sweet spice, then the meat is removed and coved with chestnut flour, then steamed into a thick patty, deep fried and served with sweet and sour sauce!!! tony d

Our own Evil Ronnie rcently posted about his own personal Pressed Duck quest.

Yea, if I have to cook it myself, it's not going to happen

But at least I now have some idea of what I'm looking for.

Last night, I found myself downtown looking for a place to eat. After being denied service at two or three places (It's Saturday night of Valentine's Day weekend and you have no reservation? What were you thinking?), I went to Trader Vic's spurred on by this discussion. Trader Vic's is a faux Polynesian Restaurant in the basement of the Palmer House that is filled with kitch and has a menu to match. The waiter really was pushing the Bongo Bongo soup as a Valentine's Day elixer, but I was there for one thing and one thing only...Almond (pressed) Duck.

First of all, let me point out that this place has some real potential to be more than a touristy trick of a hotel restaurant. They have some wood burning ovens that are prominently displayed in the dining room (through glass) where they cook many of their meats.

Polynesian Wood Burning Ovens


I had to sample some of the meats cooked in these ovens, so I ordered an appetizer plate called Cosmo's Tidbits, which is the standard chop suey joint appetizer combo plate consisting of BBQ pork, crab rangoon, deep fried shrimp and BBQ ribs. I did detect a subtle smokyness to the meats, but they were no better or worse than any of these types of platters served at any of 1000 Chinese-American restaurants in the city. I will say that the ribs and pork were not greasy/fatty at all. Sadly, I didn't try the carb rangoon, deciding to let the Chow Poodle go nuts as a Valentine's Day treat.

The restaurant was pretty crowded with Valentine's Day Couples and Convention Goers, and both the service and the quality of the food suffered accordingly. Our meal was pretty dissapointing, but I've been there many times before and I know they can (and ususally do) do better. I'm chalking it up to the busy weekend, so I wouldn't take my duck review as gospel. I'll have to go back again during the week for a more definitive review. Last night, the duck was not very good.

Trader Vic's Almond Duck


The duck came out smothered in a dark cloyingly sweet sauce. It didn't have its usual overtones of cherries, but rather tasted more like weak BBQ sauce. The duck itself was overcooked and dry...almost like they fried it twice as long as they should have. Like I said, I've had this dish before and its been better. My dining companions both had the mahi mahi with macadamia crust and thought theirs was overcooked a bit as well. Hopefully, this is not a downhill trend for Trader Vic's. I'll go back in a month or so to give it another try and will report back.

I gotta tell you Steve, that doesn't look anything like what I was remembering. The first difference obviously is the sauce. The second difference is the overall shape. They were more flat, maybe an inch high at most, more likely thinner. Kind of resembled (in size) a McDonalds fish fillet cut in a triangle.

As I said, this dish was off on Saturday, although the size of the pieces are about what they usually serve. I know what you mean, though. The duck pieces are traditionally more flat and square most other places I have seen it. They normally have the taste nailed, though. I'll try again in a few weeks to be sure it is not a permanant downward spiral.

Well time to dredge up an old thread. As I mentioned in another thread, sometimes things are right under your nose and you don't even notice it. I've been searching for Chinese BBQ Pork since I moved out of Rogers Park that was cooked the same way they made it at Mings on Sheridan. I've been going to Kow Kow in Lincolnwood for about 7 years now and didn't find out that they made it the same way until about 2 weeks ago.

So I go up there today to get some as a take out. So I'm sitting and waiting for my order and wasting some time reading the menu, and there it was, Pressed Duck.

All this time I've been going there I always meet someone and we always just order from the lunch special menu. I've never seen their full menu and I've never bothered to grab one of their takeout menus. Unfortunately it was too late to add it to my order so I didn't get to try it.

So the obvious question, has anybody tried this at Kow Kow? I know a lot folks here go there for the Egg Rolls, hopefully someone has tried the Pressed Duck.

midas wrote:So the obvious question, has anybody tried this at Kow Kow? I know a lot folks here go there for the Egg Rolls, hopefully someone has tried the Pressed Duck.

This just got mentioned in the Chicken Vesuvio thread. The short answer is that Kow Kow gets multi thumbs down for their pressed duck. Try at your own risk.

stevez wrote:This just got mentioned in the Chicken Vesuvio thread.

Wow, why didn't I think of looking there

The short answer is that Kow Kow gets multi thumbs down for their pressed duck. Try at your own risk.

Ouch, that's too bad. Oh well, the quest continues I guess. Now off to an Italian chicken thread to read about Canonese duck.

Just read the little bit in there and I have to say, that picture is nearly repulsive. I think I'll be staying away after seeing that.

BTW, I of course asked the same question about the Kow Kow version. I was told the regular version was only served over a bed of rice while the Kow Kow version had some added vegetables.

midas wrote:Ouch, that's too bad. Oh well, the quest continues I guess. Now off to an Italian chicken thread to read about Cantonese duck.

Midas,

LTHForum, the Laser Focused Chicago-based culinary chat site.

As the person who took 'one for the team' on Kow Kow's pressed duck please consider yourself warned.

I should point out I dearly love, well, maybe not love, but most certainly like, Kow Kow in all of it's American/Cantonese glory. Just stay away from the pressed duck.

Enjoy,
Gary

Yes Gary, if a picture's worth a thousand words, I think 999 of them in that shot were AWFUL. It's just so curious. The place has been in business forever. There's an article on the wall in back that shows a review from 1975 when they were still on Devon. The article said they'd already been in business for 27 years.

That means they've been doing this for 57 years now. You'd think someone would either tell them it sucks or they'd sell such a small amount that it would be taken off the menu. Now if you read this thread from the beginning, you know this isn't what I've been looking for. But is it even remotely possible that someone might find this dish appealing?

Or is it just there for a joke and every time someone orders it the whole crew has a big laugh?

midas wrote:Yes Gary, if a picture's worth a thousand words, I think 999 of them in that shot were AWFUL. It's just so curious. The place has been in business forever. There's an article on the wall in back that shows a review from 1975 when they were still on Devon. The article said they'd already been in business for 27 years.

That means they've been doing this for 57 years now. You'd think someone would either tell them it sucks or they'd sell such a small amount that it would be taken off the menu. Now if you read this thread from the beginning, you know this isn't what I've been looking for. But is it even remotely possible that someone might find this dish appealing?

Or is it just there for a joke and every time someone orders it the whole crew has a big laugh?

Kow Kow was the first Chinese restaurant I ever went to (it was the family's go to place). This was in the mid to late '50's. I can remember ordering pressed duck there on many occasions. At the time, it was much better, of course I was probably no more than 10 years old, so what did I know. I will give Kow Kow credit for starting my love affair with duck, though. Today, there is no way I would order this dish there.

In a similar vein, I've been trying to locate
"Pressed Chicken" to no avail. It was one
of our go-to dishes at an old school place
we frequented in the 70s-80s in Gary, IN -
called Ming Ling; that sadly no longer exists.

*After searching around, I came across this:
http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&safe=on&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=%22ming+ling%22+restaurant+gary+indiana&fb=1&gl=us&hq=%22ming+ling%22+restaurant&hnear=Gary,+IN&cid=4810159238029449492

"Yes, it re-opened just recently!!! It closed for about 6 months and is now back open with the same ownership"