Is this the best duck in Thai Town?

Los Angeles Times

01-03-2025

Duck in Thai Town, boozy raw-milk lattes in the Inland Empire, goat tacos worth a detour, a new pop-up bakery in Torrance, immersive entertainment dining, trouble in wine country and the Trump administration is targeting California's Prevention of Cruelty to Farm Animals Act. I'm Laurie Ochoa, general manager of L.A. Times Food, with this week's Tasting Notes.
There is spicy crispy catfish on the menu at Roasted Duck by Pa Ord, also grilled pork belly and even New York steak. But as the name makes clear, you come to this Hollywood Thai Town restaurant for one thing: roasted duck.
The first time I came to the restaurant that Lawan Bhanduram (of Pa Ord Noodle fame) opened last year, I ordered the roasted duck noodles and my pal John ordered the spicy basil duck with rice. We left happy, but I soon realized that we'd missed out on the restaurant's best dish — the roasted duck special that comes as a single for one person or a couple for two. I returned with my daughter, Isabel, a fan of the restaurant's fashion-conscious and bespectacled duck mascot, who holds her quilted red purse with the confidence of Queen Elizabeth II and is presumably inspired by Bhanduram. You choose either rice or jade noodles to go with your duck — we went with the noodles so that we could dip them into the two sauces served alongside, one with slightly spicy and sour flavors mixed into the meat juices and one with the roasting juices unadorned.
When the restaurant opened last year, Food reporter Stephanie Breijo wrote that it took Bhanduram's chef Bob Vongfanikul '10 years to perfect his recipe.'
He 'marinates the duck in a secret sauce blend, then air dries it overnight and roasts it for an hour. ... While the practice of the roast duck originated in China, at his former place of employment, in Chatuchak's Or Tor Kor market, Vongfanikul altered the style to more closely reflect Thai flavor and presentation with vinegar sauces, seasoning and other tweaks. The way he hangs the neck, too, is his own style.'
The meat is remarkably flavorful and the skin has a beautiful texture that keeps you wanting more. With the duck, we ordered one of the city's best papaya salads — order it spicy, but know that they won't hold back if that's how you like it.
One thing to note. The restaurant is small with just a few tables, some counter seats and spots outside. And on some nights, demand is so high that they run out of roast duck. Try coming right when the restaurant opens at 11 a.m. (except on Tuesdays when it's closed) or, if you're feeling lucky, on a weeknight about a half-hour before the restaurant closes its doors at 9 p.m.
Food editor Daniel Hernandez reports this week on the western Mexican tradition of drinking raw milk, straight from the goat or cow, mixed with a shot of high-proof cane liquor and sweeteners that often include instant coffee, cocoa powder, cinnamon and crumbled mazapán candy. The unregulated early-morning custom of drinking pajaretes made its way to California's agricultural zones decades ago and can be found in the Southland from Compton to the Inland Empire. Even so, it's remained, as Hernandez writes, 'one of those 'if you know, you know' social rituals that are common behind closed doors across the state.'
'It tastes like a latte,' one pajarete drinker told Hernandez. 'A boozy latte.'
Of course, the tradition is not without controversy. Although raw-milk consumption has become more appealing to those on the left and right, with new Health and Human Services secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a longtime advocate, many scientists say pasteurization 'remains the best available way to prevent massive infections with harmful viruses or bacteria.' Does the alcohol counteract the pathogens?
'Bottom line, it is complicated, but you wouldn't sterilize the milk' with alcohol, a UC Davis microbial food safety expert told Hernandez. 'And reductions of alcohol-sensitive microbes would take time.'
While he was reporting on pajaretes, Hernandez found himself eating in Muscoy as often as possible. There's a whole taco row on State Street there, but the standout puesto is Tacos de Cabrito y Machitos El Lagunero. Cabrito al pastor, or baby goat, is roasted over mesquite and 'served as tacos, tortas, to-go, in crispy flautas or as a savory bowl of consomé with garbanzos.' Hernandez talks with taquero Francisco Salinas about what makes his tacos so fantastic.
'Before there were lines forming for their merguez-filled croissants, date-caramel sticky buns and chocolate chunk cookies,' writes columnist Jenn Harris this week, Lee Begim and Avi Sabag 'had to navigate a pandemic, a war and a flood.' Harris tells the story of how the two young Americans got together in Tel Aviv, then started hosting tasting dinners and brunches in Noga, a moshav in south-central Israel. After the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, and the ongoing war that followed, plus a flood last year that left most of their possessions destroyed, the couple came to Los Angeles and opened Noga Bread Co., a pop-up bakery that appears on Wednesdays and Saturdays at the Enclave center in Torrance. Soon they hope to open a bakery and cafe in San Pedro, but meanwhile, Harris says, head to the pop-up for lamb merguez-filled croissants and sticky buns filled with date caramel.
There have been many attempts to combine dinner and immersive entertainment. For about a year, the Ritz-Carlton at L.A. Live was home to Le Petit Chef from the Belgian animation studio Skullmapping and TableMation Studios, which has more than 85 locations around the globe, including cruise ships. But some who have experienced these kinds of immersive entertainment dinners say that the food can be secondary to the animation. This week, however, columnist Todd Martens reports that the Gallery, a new downtown L.A. restaurant where the dining room can shift from a fiery volcano interior to a wondrous underwater environment, has hired Joshua Whigham, 'the former chef de cuisine at José Andrés' now shuttered L.A. outpost of Bazaar.'
Co-founder Daren Ulmer, a theme park veteran whose Mousetrappe Media has worked with Disney, 'cites Whigham's work at Bazaar as particularly impressive,' Martens writes, 'and says he 'was an inspiration for this project due to [his] passion for making dining an emotional experience.''
'I expect the food world to be skeptical,' adds Ulmer, who took some of his inspiration for the restaurant from Cirque du Soleil. 'There have been gimmicky things in the past. I ask them to trust us and look and see where we go from here.'