Margaret Kuo's Kitchen

You're sitting down for Peking duck in suburban Philadelphia and the wine list opens to Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Alsatian Riesling — it's unexpected in the best way. This isn't a wine list that happened by accident; someone genuinely thought about what goes on this menu. That someone is Warren Kuo, and it shows.

The list runs 150 to 200 bottles and leans hard into France, which is exactly the right call for a kitchen built around layered, aromatic, sauce-forward dishes. Burgundy anchors the upper tier with names like Drouhin and Jadot doing the heavy lifting; Bordeaux classified growths make an appearance for the red-wine-with-duck crowd. The real intelligence here is the Alsace section — Trimbach and Hugel Rieslings are a natural match for ginger, scallion, and the gentle heat that runs through half this menu. Rhône producers Chapoutier and Guigal round things out with enough weight to handle the black pepper beef. The Champagne shelf (Veuve, Moët) reads a little safe, but at a suburban Asian restaurant with a legit French cellar, we're not complaining.

Twelve to eighteen pours by the glass is a solid number — enough variety to land somewhere interesting without the list getting sloppy. Prices run $10 to $18, which is reasonable for this level of curation. We'd love to see the Alsatian selections rotate through more aggressively on the glass list; a Trimbach Riesling by the pour with dim sum would be a revelation.