There are so many restaurants, you guys. Every month, I round up the noteworthy recent openings, and I take a look at my calendar, and my budget, and I think, “I should really try out this spot, and this spot, and this place sounds super cool.” And then I maybe do make it over there, or I maybe don’t!
Asian Duck is one I really wanted to try. Tiny, takeout-focused, owned by a husband-and-wife duo, located in a space where lately nothing has been able to make a go of it for very long—checks a lot of boxes in terms of a place I want to support. Then I blinked, and six months had passed since it opened. So when a Racket reader emailed us in late December to alert us to a break-in at the newish restaurant, I made a mental note to visit sooner rather than later, and earlier this week, made good on that plan.
Located in the teeny, revolving-door Hiawatha neighborhood space that most recently housed PK Cafe (and was briefly Official Fried Chicken before that), Asian Duck serves a streamlined menu of Thai and Laotian staples. The restaurant comes from Mary Slater and her husband Tenzin Detchen, both of whom have worked in the restaurant industry “most of their adult lives,” according to a July story from neighborhood newsletter Longfellow Whatever. The space, though small, is cute—there are a few tables throughout, and a neon sign on one wall proclaims, “Sabaidee, Minneapolis” (“Hello, Minneapolis").
While the menu isn’t nearly as sprawling as what you’ll find at some other area Thai takeout restaurants, it is almost twice as big as it looks at first glance, because many dishes—like the Thum Talay seafood medley or the Thum Pho spicy noodle salad—are available either Lao or Thai style. The menu explains that the Lao preparation emphasizes savory, umami flavors, while the Thai versions of these dishes are brighter and more citrusy.
So, for example, our order of the Thum Mak Thang (cucumber salad, $10), which we ordered Lao style, involved carved up cukes and halved cherry tomatoes drenched in fermented fish sauce, with a slowly building heat. We ordered ours “spicy,” but I appreciate that the menu doesn’t mess around when it comes to the spice scale…
Someday, I’m going to shell out four bucks for the “hella spicy” option just to feel something.
There are, despite what the name might imply, no duck dishes on the menu, but I loved Asian Duck’s Grilled Beef Sandwich ($11), a bánh mì situation with crusty bread, crispy veggies, and soft strips of delicious marinated beef. Every component here was really refreshing, including the slightly sweet, light sauce drizzled over it all. We also ordered the beef in our Thai Fried Rice ($13.25), which, if I lived any closer, would become a tempting weekly go-to.
(I am, in fact, eating leftovers of it at this very second, and even cold straight outta the fridge, it rocks.)
But if there’s one thing that’ll get me over here again, it’s the Lao sausage, served in succulent, reddish-pink coins that are incredibly satisfying to pop in your maw. We ordered the appetizer platter ($13.75), served with sticky rice and a spicy chili sauce; the combination makes for a perfect bite, bite after bite. You can also get the Lao sausage on Asian Duck’s bánh mì-style sandwich, or in the fried rice, both of which I’d be interested in trying on a return visit.
The restaurant was already out of Cranberry Cream Cheese Wontons when we placed our order about an hour before closing on a recent weeknight. (We learned upon arrival that we managed to snag the very last beef sandwich.) In neighborhoody fashion, they refunded us for the wontons and threw in a few pork skewers free of charge—that’s the kind of move that’ll ensure we come back in the future.
And hey, lesson learned: I’ll be there earlier in the day next time around.
Asian Duck
Address: 4010 E. 46th St., Minneapolis
Hours: 11:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday-Friday; 12-8 p.m. Saturday; 2-8 p.m. Sunday. Closed Tuesdays.
