On a Friday morning, I get an email from chef Donald Young. “The address for the event will be [redacted]. I will be sharing a virtual key soon via email.” Thus begins my Duck Sel journey, a dining experience that combines the standards of a posh restaurant with the intimacy of eating in someone’s living room. For $250 for 15 courses (or $160 for seven), it is one of the most entertaining culinary adventures in town.

There’s no shortage of pop-up dinners in Chicago. But most are offered by chefs trying to get their first break. Young is already well established. He fell in love with French cuisine while working at the now-closed stalwart Le Francais in high school. After living in France for a while, he returned to Chicago to cook at Henri, Les Nomades, and Temporis, where he became one of the youngest chefs in the country to be awarded a Michelin star. During the pandemic, Young pivoted to private dinners and preferred the work-life balance to restaurant life, so he launched Duck Sel as an ongoing series held a few nights a month and devoted to his affinity for duck dishes (his Instagram handle is @donaldduckconfit).

When Saturday night arrives, my date and I go to the address Young gave us. It turns out to be a residential building on the North Side. We key in the door code and join another awkward-looking couple in the elevator. It feels like something between a burglary and a random hookup. But when we enter the unmarked apartment, the vibe instantly changes. The apartment is extensively decorated with duck-related tchotchkes, and as I walk through the kitchen, what seems like hundreds of plates are laid out in preparation for the dinner, which can accommodate 24 guests.

After a toast, Young begins the meal the same way he will announce every course: by blowing a duck call. What follows is a whirlwind of flavors, beginning with six canapés, each more elaborate and whimsical than the last. Among them: a spring roll made with aged salmon and served with a syringe of watermelon nuoc cham, and a single-bite cheese curd with caviar and A5 wagyu. “The first courses are always the snack attack,” Young says. “It’s what everyone remembers.” After that, courses come out fast, and not surprisingly, duck is the highlight of many of them.

Duck Sel combines the best of what a pop-up can offer: the camaraderie of sitting with food-loving strangers, the adventure of an unknown location, and the impeccable service and fare of a fine-dining restaurant. Though Young aspires to open his own event facility so that Duck Sel can have a permanent location and he can offer space for other chefs to host pop-ups, he doesn’t want to make his a traditional restaurant. “It’s hard to replicate the charm of walking into an apartment,” he explains. “Duck Sel has crossed a lot of boundaries about what people think a pop-up can be.”

So, how to partake? Since dates are limited and sell out weeks in advance, sign up at ducksel.com to be notified by email when dinners are announced; tickets can be purchased on Tock.