restaurant: new wing kee

so i was looking for an excuse to go out on a long walk in the snow today (about a foot on the ground, it's great) and figured it was about time to try out the local siu mei joint, new wing kee (39 central st). is it surprising that i'm a sucker for any place that only has three or four things on the menu? it indicates a great restraint on the part of the owner, and implies that they must be doing those things pretty well.

the interior's a mess, even by my lax adventure-dining standards. comfy old couch in the corner? giant incongruous fishtank? two booths appropriated from an old mcdonalds? whatever - it's the food that counts. americans need to get over this reliance on "atmosphere" in a restaurant. when was the last time you had a lousy meal at a beautiful restaurant and left happy? anyhow. they had the standard hanging pieces of char siu, some of the ultra-crispy-crunchy-skin roast pork that i never seem to care for, a large and scary looking hotel pan full of tripe, and some gorgeous head-on ducks hanging in the usual heat-lamp box. L & i split a whole duck ($15) chopped up and served with a sweet/salty/garlic dipping sauce. a whole duck looks pretty tiny when it's hanging there, but once it's overflowing in a styrofoam clamshell one's confidence in eating the whole thing begins to wane. did i say "split"? i meant to say "L ate a few choice morsels and then sat back to watch me at work". so yes, i ate most of a whole roast duck. and yes, it was amazing. i think my dark-meat conversion is almost complete - i'd rather have this duck than chicken almost any day of the week. well, maybe that's going a bit far. but it'd take a piping hot chicken from edy's in falls church to really challenge this duck.

so yes, readers. steam a bunch of rice, get some cucumbers and whatnot, pick up one of these ducks, and dine in the opulence of your east side mansion. you won't be disappointed. or, hell, eat it there. there's a roll of paper towels you can use to clean your hands up at the end.

oh, and confidential to many, many, many drivers in the providence area: when the road is really snowy and your car starts to spin out, don't give it more gas. please. it makes you look like a total idiot. and when you keep giving it more gas until i feel so bad for you that i walk into a road full of busy traffic to push your dumb ass i would really appreciate it if you didn't floor it when i start pushing. i know you're young and not a great driver, and i'm not going to yell at you in front of your boyfriend, but i mean really. let's use our heads people.