Profile

Once called Maple Garden, the restaurant changed its name to match its toothsome savory specialty. Nearly every customer, from the many regulars to the occasional newbies, orders Peking duck, whole and bronze, which is toted to the table by a waiter followed by a toqued chef wielding a long, sharp knife. Tableside, the chef deftly removes the wafer-crisp skin and carves the bird before racing back to the kitchen, leaving you to wrap house-made pancakes around the skin, moist meat, and scallions. Duck is also superb in other forms, like the comparatively modest sautéed sliced duck and scallions in a weightless, restrained hoisin-based sauce. Light sauces like this one, blessedly free of cornstarch, contribute liveliness to other dishes, too. The pool of slightly spicy orange sauce under crisp slices of beef is as tart and fresh as the fruit, unlike typical renderings of this Hunanese classic. Prawns in X.O. sauce, made with garlic, chili, and dried scallops, however, suffer from heavy breading and mealy product. The ideal place to dine is in the small glassed-in alcove overlooking 53rd Street. It's more intimate than the vast, windowless other dining rooms, though you may be too consumed with duck to notice. — JJ Goode

Crispy orange beef, $22.50; sliced duck with scallions and hoisin sauce, $19.50; Peking duck dinner for four or more, $32.50 per person