Lulu Modern turns a 7-pound duck into a $108 Plano spectacle

By Daniel Okafor

About 7 pounds of duck, enough to feed up to six diners, arrives at Lulu Modern in Plano for $108, then goes up in flames at the table after Chef Lee pours Bacardi 151 into a vessel and ignites it.

Lulu Modern opened in November 2025 on the northeast corner of West Plano Village, just off the Dallas North Tollway. Over the past year, founder Sunny Chang has widened the restaurant from Chinese-focused cooking into a broader exploration of Asian flavors shaped by his perspective and the duality of his Asian-American upbringing.

The unassuming exterior doesn’t prepare guests for the interior: a gilded, beaded curtain, a wall of maneki-neko lucky cats and a wall-sized mural of Lulu, Chang’s fictional muse, painted in kaleidoscopic colors.

The room feels youthful and abstract, with traditional accents and aromas of garlic, ginger, oyster sauce and toasted sesame oil. The contrast is striking. The room is not conspicuously packed.

Chang, a former Marine from New York City, has worked in restaurant service and corporate operations, with many years behind the bar. After opening 22 corporate restaurants within two years, he decided to build his own concept in West Plano. Lulu Modern is that founder-owned venture.

Recently appointed executive chef Natalie Deprez brings a global perspective and Asian culinary training. Her dishes draw on China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam and American interpretations of Asian food.

• Small plates and dim sum include Shanghai-inspired xiaolongbao, Guangdong shrimp shumai, Vietnamese Saigon Spring Rolls, Japanese Crispy Daishi Tofu and Asian American Crispy Duck Truffle Fries.
• Larger plates include Thai Hot Pot, Filipino Coconut Curry, Xinjiang Cumin Lamb and Sichuan Pickled Fish.
• Sushi and nigiri extend the range, with Deprez highlighting Wagyu Nigiri: seared A5 Japanese Wagyu, cured egg yolk and a savory glaze.

Lulu’s beverage program uses pop-culture names such as Kung Fu Panda, Once Upon a Flame and White Lotus. Despite the cheeky labels, the cocktails are balanced and built from straightforward ingredients.

The foam-topped Pretty N’ Lychee is a best seller: sweet lychee vodka leads, followed by floral rosewater and a mellow note of grapefruit vodka. The Yuzu Margarita starts tart with citrus and lemongrass, adds Tres Agaves Blanco, and finishes with a beer-salt note.

The happy-hour offer is notably competitive: 50% off cocktails all day Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

What does the flaming duck change for the check?

For the Flambé Peking Duck, Chang recruited a chef from New York City’s Chinatown who goes simply by Chef Lee. The bird takes three days to prepare.

Lee begins by cleaning the bird, then spends about an hour seasoning, scaling, glazing and pumping air beneath the skin to separate it from the meat. The duck air-dries in a refrigerator for a couple of days, producing ultra-crisp skin, and roasts on the third day.

Lee quietly arrives with a cart carrying a roasted duck suspended head-up. He pours Bacardi 151 into a vessel and ignites it, then raises his hand and showers the bird in flames. Afterward, he removes the head, slices along the spine so juices can drain, and carves the duck into tender slices.

The whole duck weighs approximately 7 pounds and feeds up to six. The $108 Beijing-inspired meal includes steamed pancakes, Lulu’s kumquat-plum bean sauce, Persian cucumbers, scallions, sugar and pineapple.

For diners, the practical change is straightforward: treat $108 as the starting point for a shared meal, not an ordinary entrée, with a $10 soup available to extend it. If six diners divide the $108 meal, the base is $18 apiece before extras.

For Chang, one roughly 7-pound bird serves a table, while three days of prep and a labor-intensive tableside finish make the performance part of the product. No food-cost or labor percentages were disclosed, so margin cannot be calculated; the structure makes the duck a premium anchor, with 50%-off cocktails as the lower-priced counterpoint.

Traditionally, the first pieces are crisp, glossy slices of skin, served hot and meant to be dipped in granulated white sugar. The sugar melts against the skin and adds a delicate sweetness to the savory bite.

Pineapple offers a similar use: layer it with duck meat, scallions and cucumbers inside a crepe or bao bun, where its acidity and sweetness cut through the fattiness.

The meal can be rounded out with Sichuan dry-fried green beans and Taiwanese sausage fried rice. The fried rice directly nods to Chang’s cultural background, and both sides are served family-style. For $10, a steaming tofu-and-mushroom duck bone soup adds rich depth, with goji berries contributing small bursts of sweetness.

For the holidays, Lulu Modern packs the entire duck spread, plus a bottle of its signature SMALA chili oil, into the $188 Flaming Duck Feast. The take-home package carries the same three-day preparation, precision and technique.

Lulu Modern is at 3310 Dallas Parkway, Plano.

• Closed Tuesday.
• Monday, Wednesday and Thursday: 4:10–10 p.m.
• Friday: 4:30–11 p.m.
• Saturday: 11 a.m.–midnight.
• Sunday: 11 a.m.–10 p.m.

The next test for Chang is whether the tableside ritual can turn occasional holiday splurges into regular traffic while Deprez’s broader menu gives the room reasons to fill beyond the $108 centerpiece.