Fast-Casual Take on Chinese Roast Duck Lifts Off in Poway

A new restaurant applying a casual, counter-service model to dishes revolving around Chinese roast duck has landed near the AMC Theater in Poway. Called Crazy Duck, it’s the third local venture for business partners Lijun Liu and Tony Wu. Liu is a grad of UC San Diego’s Rady School of Management while Wu is a veteran chef who cooked at Clairemont Mesa’s Village Kitchen before he and Liu opened their first popular restaurant, Taste of Hunan, and Fan-Fan, a recent addition to UCSD’s North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood.

Though it’s getting started in Poway, Liu says they have plans to open more Crazy Duck locations around San Diego. Designed to be takeout-friendly, the menu features whole or half roast ducks, cooked on site in a German oven that roasts the seasoned birds in about an hour. The duck is the centerpiece of fast-casual meal combos, paired vegetables and steamed rice or hand made noodles which can be tossed with sweet soy or a spicy sesame sauce.

Candice Woo

There’s also roast duck fried rice, roast duck with spicy chili-spiked fries, and roast duck burritos along with salt and pepper or orange-sauced chicken wings. Salmon is currently the other protein choice, but Wu and Liu tell Eater that more menu items are in the works, including a boneless sliced duck and Chinese roast pork option as well as noodle soups. For customers who choose to dine-in, they can help themselves to limitless bowls of soup, including hot and sour soup and other daily specials.

Candice Woo

Candice Woo

• All Openings Coverage on Eater [ESD]