Peter Chang (chef)

Peter Chang is a Chinese chef specializing in Szechwan cuisine who is known for his restaurants in Virginia and other states in the Southeastern United States.

Peter Chang
Born1963
Hubei, China
Spouse(s)Lisa Chang
Culinary career
Websitehttp://www.peterchangarlington.com/

Early life and emigration to America

Chang was born in 1963 in a farming village Hubei Province, attending culinary school in [Deep Creek]. He was assigned to work on a cruise ship on the Yangtze river, where he met his wife, Lisa. After working in luxury hotels and winning national cooking competitions in China, Chang was encouraged to take the foreign service cooking test, earning a two-year contract to work in the Embassy of China in Washington, D.C.[1][2]

Chang and his family arrived in the United States in 2001, and during his tenure at the Chinese Embassy he cooked for then-Vice President Hu Jintao. One morning in 2003, just days before they were set to return to China, the Chang family left the embassy with plans to settle in the United States.[2][3]

Disappearances and movement

A map, captioned "The restless chef," accompanying a 2012 Washington Post article about Chang has arrows indicating Chang's movements between cooking positions in ten southeastern U.S. locations in a period of about eight years. It shows a journey from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., to suburban Richmond, via the Virginia suburbs of Washington, suburban Atlanta, Knoxville, and Charlottesville.[4]

After leaving the Chinese Embassy, Chang became the chef at a Chinese restaurant, China Star, in Fairfax, Virginia. To avoid Chinese bureaucrats and U.S. immigration officials, he worked under a pseudonym, "Mr. Liu." The restaurant had a typical menu of American Chinese cuisine, but there was also a Chinese language menu with more sophisticated Sichuan cuisine.[1][2][3]

Chang was discovered by users on the DC-area food website DonRockwell.com and by Washington City Paper food critic Todd Kliman, and the increasing publicity led Chang to leave China Star for TemptAsian in Alexandria, Virginia. After a review was published in the City Paper in 2005,[5] Chang left TemptAsian for a new restaurant in Fairfax called Szechuan Boy. Kliman wrote a review of the new restaurant in Washingtonian magazine,[6] which prompted Chang to leave Virginia altogether.[1][2][3]

In September 2006, users on Chowhound found Chang working at Tasty China in Marietta, Georgia.[7][8] The chef was gone by the spring of 2007, but in June 2008 he was found working at Hong Kong House in Knoxville, Tennessee. In the fall of 2009, Chang moved to Taste of China in Charlottesville, Virginia, which quickly became a popular destination, with lines extending out the door.[1][2][3][9][10]

The March 2010 issue of The New Yorker featured an article by Calvin Trillin entitled "Where's Chang?", chronicling the chef's movements, Kliman's reviews, and interviewing John Binkley, a retired Washington economist who had eaten at each of Chang's restaurants and become friends with the Chang family.[1] The article brought national recognition to Chang and Taste of China; and by the end of the month he had left the restaurant, citing differences with the owner.[10][2]

Chang was seen at Tasty China in Georgia in late March 2010, and that December he opened Peter Chang's Tasty China II in Sandy Springs, in northwest Atlanta.[11][12]

Stability and expansion

In March 2011, Chang opened Peter Chang's China Grill in Charlottesville, partnering with Gen Lee, a Chinese chef and restaurateur who had met Chang while running a sandwich shop next door to Taste of China.[13][14][15] Chang and his wife were able to obtain authorization from immigration authorities to work in the United States, and the opening of China Grill marked the end of Chang's saga of short-lived stays in restaurant kitchens.[2]

Lee and Chang opened Peter Chang China Café in Short Pump, a suburb of Richmond, Virginia in early 2012.[16] In 2012, China Café was named by Bon Appétit as one of the 50 Best New Restaurants in America.[17]

In September 2012, Chang opened Peter Chang Cafe in Williamsburg, Virginia on Richmond Road, near the campus of The College of William and Mary.[18] In May 2013, Chang opened Peter Chang's China Cafe in Fredericksburg, Virginia in the Central Park Shopping Center.[19]

On March 14, 2015, a restaurant bearing his name opened in Arlington, Virginia's, Lee Harrison Shopping Center.[20] He also opened a restaurant in Rockville, Maryland in the Town Square Plaza on April 15, 2015.[21]

On June 5, 2016, Chang opened a new eponymous restaurant in the Scott's Addition Historic District of Richmond.[22]

In May 2017, Chang opened a new restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, Q by Peter Chang, at 4500 East-West Highway, with a "grand opening" scheduled for June 2, 2017.[23]

In March 2019, Chang opened a new restaurant in Fairfax, Virginia, Mama Chang, featuring recipes by Chang's wife and his mother. Mama Chang reportedly welcomed 1,000 diners per day on its opening weekend. In May 2019, the Washington Post's restaurant critic, Tom Sietsema, ranked Mama Chang as #1 on his list of the year's 10 best new restaurants in the Washington area.[24]

Awards and media

Chang was a finalist for a James Beard Award in 2016 for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic.[25] He has cooked several times at the James Beard House in New York City, including for a dinner in November 2019 celebrating "The Chang Mystique."[26]

In November 2013, China Cafe in Richmond was featured on Andrew Zimmern's show Bizarre Foods America on the Travel Channel.[27] In July 2016, Peter Chang in Rockville was featured on the Food Network's Top 5 Restaurants with Sunny Anderson and Geoffrey Zakarian.[28]

A December 2019 article in The Economist on Chinese-American cuisine opened "For several years, beginning in the mid-2000s, devotees of Chinese food on America's east coast obsessed over a mystery: Where was Peter Chang? A prodigiously talented—and peripatetic—chef, Mr. Chang bounced around eateries in the south-east." It described one of his soups, with pickled mustard greens and fresh sea bass, as "in its way as hauntingly perfect and austere as a Bach cello suite."[29]

gollark: Bees
gollark: The best available card has 80GB.
gollark: You can buy used gaming laptops at fairly okay pricing.
gollark: Discretized.
gollark: Did you know? We have now discretized bees.

References
  1. Trillin, Calvin (1 March 2010), "Where's Chang?", The New Yorker, pp. 26–29
  2. Carman, Tim (March 17, 2015). "How chef Peter Chang stopped running and started empire-building". The Washington Post.
  3. Kliman, Todd (24 February 2010), "Todd Kliman Chases the Perfect Chef", Oxford American, archived from the original on 2 March 2010, retrieved 27 February 2010
  4. Carman, Tim (10 February 2012). "For rock-star chef, central home cooking". Washington Post.
  5. TemptAsian Cafe, Route 236 in West Alexandria; Chinese in the Grand Mart Shopping Plaza, donrockwell.com, 26 June 2005, retrieved 27 February 2010
  6. Kliman, Todd (1 May 2006), "Dining Out", The Washingtonian
  7. Atlanta, Marietta, Tasty China. Full Report, Chowhound, 16 October 2006, retrieved 27 February 2010
  8. Kessler, John (24 February 2010), Front Burner: Peter Chang in 'New Yorker', Access Atlanta, archived from the original on 8 March 2012, retrieved 27 February 2010
  9. Seider, Todd (20 February 2010), "Taste of China Tastes Tasty", Virginia Law Weekly, 62 (18), retrieved 27 February 2010
  10. McNair, Dave (23 March 2010), "The Chang Effect", The Hook
  11. Peter Chang the enigmatic chef, archived from the original on 20 December 2010
  12. Fuhrmeister, Chris (November 3, 2014). "Tasty China II Closes in Sandy Springs". Eater Atlanta.
  13. Waite, Kathy (23 February 2011), "This Just In", C'ville
  14. McNair, Dave (2 March 2011). "Chang finally returns". The Hook. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  15. Wells, Peter (April 15, 2014). "Where Peter Chang Cooks, They Will Follow". The New York Times.
  16. Fox, Brandon (7 February 2012). "My Meal with Peter Chang". Richmond Magazine. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013.
  17. "Bon Appétit's 50 Best New Restaurant Nominees". Bon Appétit. September 2012.
  18. "Peter Chang set to open new place in Williamsburg". Washington Post. Retrieved 2 September 2017.
  19. Murphy, Cher (14 May 2013). "Peter Chang's China Cafe Opens to Full House". Fredericksburg Patch. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
  20. Carman, Tim (2015-03-09). "The wait is over: Peter Chang returns to Northern Virginia on Saturday". Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  21. Carman, Tim (2015-02-25). "Peter Chang will join the fast-casual revolution with Arlington restaurant". Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-03-10.
  22. Breijo, Stephanie (June 3, 2016). "Peter Chang's New Restaurant Opening Today". Richmond Magazine.
  23. Spiegel, Anna (10 May 2017). "Peter Chang's Highly-Anticipated Flagship Opens With Dim Sum, Peking Duck". Washingtonian. Retrieved 22 May 2018.
  24. Sietsema, Tom (1 May 2019). "Review | Mama Chang knows best". Washington Post. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  25. Peifer, Karri (March 15, 2016). "Peter Chang named finalist for best chef Mid-Atlantic in James Beard Foundation Awards". Richmond Times-Dispatch.
  26. "The Chang Mystique". James Beard Foundation. November 19, 2019.
  27. Wise, Scott (November 15, 2013). "Travel Channel chef highlights Richmond restaurants". WTVR.
  28. "Peter Chang". Food Network. 2016.
  29. "A bao in every steamer". The Economist. 21 December 2019.
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