“To do duck you have to be really disciplined, like cut out your social life,” says Chartchai Vongsanikul. “Period.” Vongsanikul, who goes by Chef Bob, is calling me on his semi-day off to talk about ...

Back in summer 2020, my husband and I walked two miles to Chinatown to pick up dinner from Hwa Yuan, the Szechuan restaurant known for introducing New Yorkers to cold sesame noodles back in the ’80s.