A few weeks ago we went out to dinner at Thai Tradition, a very nice Thai restaurant on Carriage Parkway (off Central east of Edgemor) here in Wichita. I got to talking to the waitress about a favorite Thai dish I used to order in Brookline, MA: panang curry duck. She offered to make it next time I came in. Thai Tradition offers panang curry with pork, chicken, etc., and they have several duck dishes -- I usually order the red curry duck. Anyhow, we dropped in last night, she remembered and made the same offer again, I ordered, and it was wonderful: just roasted, chunked duck in a thick, rich peanut sauce -- a little hotter than I like, but as with kung pao, peanuts can handle quite a lot of heat. The Brookline dish came with spinach and chick peas and a thinner curry. I found a recipe like that and made the dish once -- my duck fell apart, but still made for a tasty dish. Just thought that if you're in Wichita, you might seek the restaurant out and try ordering the panang curry duck. Especially recommended to my nephew.

While on the subject of Wichita restaurants, let me also offer a plug for Cafe Istanbul, on West just north of Douglas. It's a small Turkish restaurant. It doesn't exactly have my two favorite Turkish dishes -- yogurtlu kebap and imam bayildi -- but their "Alexander style" chicken and doner kebabs come close enough to the former to qualify as utterly delicious, and I've never been able to duplicate their eggplant salad. I also recommend the cizbiz kofte and the cigar boregi. There are lots of pretty good middle eastern restaurants in Wichita -- N&J's, Byblos, as well as Lebanese-based French- or continental-oriented places -- but Istanbul far surpasses them.