Mexico | Greece | Japan | Thailand | Italy | India
 |
Styling by William Smith
(Photo: Mitchell Duffy) |
China: Anita Lo, Annisa and Rickshaw Dumpling Bar
MENU: Tea-smoked duck, chilled sesame noodles with julienned vegetables, almond float with fruit salad
Chinese-American chef Anita Lo has cooked Pan-Asian at Mirezi, modern American at her critically acclaimed Annisa, and Chinese street food at the recently opened Rickshaw Dumpling Bar. Chalk up her versatility to a food-obsessed family and a mother who adapted authentic recipes to her American kitchen. She’s the source of Lo’s tea-smoked duck, which is dunked in boiling water, lacquered, air-dried, and slowly smoked in a kettle grill to a delectable degree of confitlike crispness. Cold sesame noodles on the side are made with hoisin—that prototypical roast duck condiment—and offer a sweet, nutty contrast to the smoked meat. And Lo’s almond float is a riff on the cooling gelatin desserts that proliferate in China, served here over a summery fruit salad.
The Menu
On the Grill
Tea-Smoked Duck
On the Side
Chilled Sesame Noodles with Julienned Vegetables
For Dessert
Almond Float with Fruit Salad
To Drink
Light, fruity white wines pair well with rich Asian flavors.
Lo likes the Albariño Pazo de Senorans 2003, Rias Baixas, from Spain, made by Mariol Bueno.
Where to Shop
Dynasty
(68 Elizabeth St., nr. Hester St.; 212-966-4943). Live fish, lobsters, and crabs, dried and fresh noodles, exotic vegetables, and hundreds of Chinese spices.