The Duck Inn has been a favorite of ours, and of many, since it opened in 2014. We moved to Bridgeport, a neighborhood on the south side of Chicago in 2015 and we’ve been frequenting The Duck Inn several times a year ever since. We’ve spent a New Year’s Eve here, Mother’s Day brunch, an epic tasting menu that was called the “Baller” with gobs of fois gras, and other insanely rich dishes, as well as many other evenings and brunches for no special reason.

The Duck Inn is decorated in midcentury modern style with super cool lighting and bright upholstery, but is also very cozy with exposed brick walls. There is a very large bar that gets super packed, even on weekdays. The outdoor area is awesome for warm weather days too. Service here is almost always pretty darn perfect, with the servers being super cool and very excited about the food here.

The last time I was here was last week, and I came with my cousin Irene for a random Wednesday evening out. We came around 5:30, and apparently, Duck Inn has a happy hour from 5-6pm. You can get their signature cheese curds for only $6 and a bunch of other apps for about half off as well. We went for the curds and the chicken fried pickles. While I prefer fried pickles in chip form, these were in spears. Still excellent, and the breading was nice. The dipping sauce was spicy and a good compliment. I can’t say a whole lot about the cheese curds except they are the best anywhere, and I order them literally every single time we come here no matter what. You don’t want to skip the cheese curds when you come here! They are crispy, a little waxy, and the ketchup and mayo accompaniments are killer.

For our main course, Irene ordered the Huitlachoche Ricotta Gnocchi which was like a Mexican street food take on gnocchi, along with some stuffed morels. The Gnocchi were pretty large for ricotta gnocchi and the dish altogether was really excellent.

I have a hard time not ordering the Duck Inn’s “Up and Over” burger when I’m here. This is their take on an “In n’ Out” Burger and it used to not even be on the menu, you had to know about it to order it. Now, it’s on the menu, and the burger is consistently great with delicious special sauce and the bun is always crispy. This time, the meat seemed a bit over-salted, but usually it’s fine. I also ordered the duck fat fries, with cheese, onions and special sauce. Usually the fries are totally addicting, although this time, again, I felt that they were overly salty. I am definitely more of a salty and not sweet person (interpret as you will), so I am usually fine with a ton of salt, but for some reason on this particular visit everything did seem a bit over-salted. No matter, usually everything is pretty amazing, and this was one time out of probably 25 times visiting here that I would give a note like that. Duck Inn is consistently awesome, but someone in the kitchen today was going crazy with the salt!

We finished up with an Apple Panna Cotta, which had ultra crispy, partially dehydrated apples along with a small disk of panna cotta in the center. There were also tiny little meringues and graham cracker crumbles around the panna cotta itself. I thought this was an excellent dessert and not too sweet. It looks like they change the panna cotta flavor pretty regularly on the menu, since even looking at it online now it says that the flavor is strawberry lavender which sounds amazing too. This is a nice, light, refreshing dessert after having some really rich food for your mains.

The Duck Inn is a staple in Bridgeport for elevated food, and has been consistently awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand distinction for the last six years in a row, meaning that you can come here and eat super well, but not have to spend a mint to do it. I highly recommend a short jaunt down to the near south side to try out the food and the fun atmosphere here, and, if you like a good rotisserie duck, don’t forget to order in advance – it’s definitely worth it!