OMG OMG OMG! @Bigley9 — did you know? Are you going?
KOP tho 
Peter Chang’s first restaurant, ChinaStar, was a Chowhound favorite discovered by @johnb and James Glucksman, and we had many a fantastic group meal there. Food writer Todd Kliman wrote a book, The Perfect Chef, about his mysterious disappearances where he would start cooking at one place, create a sensation, and then he would leave as quickly as he came.
His next two ventures were very good but it was best to be selective.
Now he has an empire. Not all his places have the same menu or format. They can be very good or rather ho hum.
The ones in Charlottesville and Richmond are now probably the dullest of the lot..
Yup, that’s where I probably first heard about him — unless it was through Bourdain (?).
I am unlikely to check his place(s) out, unless they get stellar reviews. We don’t travel to Philly to eat in the burbs, generally.
Steve – Those were the days. One of my great frustrations is no longer living close to any of his places, but on those rare occasions when I can get to one I always make sure to find out he will be there (daughter Lydia is of course on my text list) and he certainly remembers me and those days – it’s always hard to get him to proffer a bill. The only current one in the DC area I’ve actually eaten at is Q (maybe that one in Arlington is still open???) which I imagine is probably still the best choice – I also read good things about Mama Chang. Would really like to try them all, but… I do get to Atlanta a lot and there is some decent Chinese there but the best choice there is Pho or Vietnamese in general.
Stay well.
I don’t think Bourdain was even aware of him. The thing that actually brought him to prominence was the Calvin Trillin New Yorker article in March of 2000 I think, but it now lives behind a firewall unfortunately. I didn’t know there was any connection to Philly – is that new? His places do get stellar reviews, and he was in the James Beard finals for Best Chef America a couple of years ago.
I just saw the article this morning. I rarely go out to the burbs to eat but it seems to be open for lunch and sometimes work pulls me out that way so we’ll see
Does anyone know if he was ever in Tennessee in the years that he disappeared and reappeared?
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@johnb is the most knowledgeable about his past wanderings.
The Arlington location, his first place once he decided to stay put, is still going. It is probably his weakest in the DC area. His place in DC and his locations of Ni Hao (small plates) are probably his best. Mama Chang is super popular, though there are certainly duds there. I’ve heard good and negative reports about Q, his more expensive place.
One meal we had at China Star, for ten of us, was one of the best meals of my life. It included a lamb casserole made with angelica which was a special. He used to make a special dish that would remain on the menu for one or two weeks. A couple of times I have shown him the Chinese from that menu, and he just laughs and waves off the idea of making that again.
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Maybe you can entice him to prearrange a Hubei meal for a table, after all, very few cook Hubei dishes in North America. I’d certainly eat such a meal if I live close by. The only item that looks obviously Hubei to me are:
Wuhan sesame paste noodle.
maybe Pork rib soup with lotus roots.
I haven’t had his food, but his menu is all over China. Perhaps he gained a wide repertoire from cooking for an embassy. Though its pretty hard to cook all regional specialties equally well. What’s his strength?
What’s with the broth of the lion’s head meatball? Its like a gravy versus a clear broth.
Yes, after he left Marietta GA he went to Knoxville to a place on Kinston Pike?? called Hong Kong House. It took me a while to get the info to find him there. He stayed a while and since in those days I had to go through there anyway when going home from NC to visit my parents (may they RIP) I would stop there on the way back, eat, and then pick up take home for NC. Once he filled a 5 gal plastic soy sauce bucket with the goodies, which I still have (the bucket not the goodies)!.
He actually won a national cooking contest in China, which led to him being selected as chef for the Chinese Embassy in DC, which is how he and his wife Lisa got to the US. He once cooked for the President of China while there. Later they walked out of the embassy with their daughter, and more-or-less went into hiding. That’s why he disappeared so often, as it turns out. Fortunately all that is but a distant memory.
Why? They didn’t like working at the embassy? What changed now then?
It’s a haul, for sure. I guess my dude and I could try n stop there for lunch on our way home some time…
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Ah, so then it was the New Yorker article where I first heard about him.
Because they wanted to stay in the US obviously, not return to China which what they would have had to do otherwise. Remember they were here only as embassy staff, no chance to stay. They grabbed the chance when they could, and too a big risk. I’m sure Peter saw a far better opportunity for himself and Lisa, and a better life for their daughter Lydia, than going back to China and being a cook. And time has shown how right he was.
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One of his places in the DC area are your best bet I’m sure. There also is (was??) one in Baltimore.
I rarely have a reason to go to DC, but I’ll keep it in mind. Baltimore used to be a regular thing for us before we lost our good friend there.
He started Ni Hao in Baltimore, and now there is also one in the Crystal City area of S. Arlington.
As where most Chinese food is served in large portions family-style, the small plates are very welcome if you are just one or two people. They are not as small as most tapas places.
He is mostly known for Sichuan cuisine.
Thanks for confirming. That’s what I remember as well, but I wasn’t sure.
