It’s a beautiful duck. It really is. But you see, it’s smiling at me. - A Christmas Story

Those are ducks at A Dong Grocery in West Hartford, CT.  For a very reasonable sum you can go up to the counter, profess your desire for either a half a duck or a whole duck, and what comes after is a bit of a mystery.  The woman pulls a duck down from its roost and takes it behind a low counter, with the action hidden away from customer view.  A cleaver is procured, and with nothing resembling delicacy or finesse,  she hacks the shit out of it.  It’s clear this is something which takes a lot of skill and probably years of experience to do properly, but it looks like a cross between some sort of violent stress relieving therapy and one of those movies involving a group of hapless teenagers, stranded in a town full of serial murdering rednecks.

Here’s what you get:

A tray full of perfectly butchered duck meat, every piece still on the bone.  The white and dark portions are artfully arranged in the tray so you know which bits are which as you nibble and gnaw, pulling the crispy, mahogany skin and meat from the bone.  Duck juices and fat run all over.  This is the sort of food, like good barbecue or anything that invites us to gnaw on bones and gristle, that takes us back to our caveman roots, and touches us right in what Mario Batali might call the primordial crocodile part of our brains.  I saved the neck for last.  It was cut into inch thick cylinders, and the meat pulled off in flavorful ribbons.

A Dong also offers Bánh mì at the counter, Vietnamese sandwiches stuffed with pickled veggies, cilantro, roast pork, and what I think, after some Googling, may have been thin slices of Ch? l?a.  The sandwich tasted very fresh and I found even half of it to be very filling but not heavy in the least.  This was my first experience with Bánh mì and I understand why those-in-the-know are so enamored with them.  I’m looking forward to trying more in different varieties.

A Dong also has a section of their prepared foods counter which is dedicated just to sweets and pastries.  I have saved everything displayed there for another trip, but A Dong’s shopping center has even more food to discover just a few steps down the strip mall.  Pt. 3 sees me fumbling through my first encounter with Ph?.