Peter Chang (chef) facts for kids

Peter Chang (simplified Chinese: 张鹏亮; traditional Chinese: 張鵬亮) is a famous Chinese chef. He is known for his amazing Sichuan cuisine (say "SAY-chwahn") and has many popular restaurants. Most of his restaurants are in Virginia and other states in the southeastern part of the United States.

Peter Chang's Early Life and Move to America

Growing Up in China

Peter Chang was born in 1963 in a small farming village in Hubei Province, China. He went to cooking school in Wuhan to learn how to be a chef. After school, he worked on a cruise ship on the Yangtze River. This is where he met his wife, Lisa.

Cooking for the Embassy

Peter Chang became a very skilled chef. He worked in fancy hotels and won cooking contests in China. Because of his talent, he was asked to take a special cooking test for foreign service. He passed and got a two-year job to cook at the Embassy of China in Washington, D.C..

Starting a New Life in the U.S.

In 2001, Peter Chang and his family arrived in the United States. While working at the Chinese Embassy, he even cooked for important people like Hu Jintao, who was the Vice President of China at the time. In 2003, just before they were supposed to go back to China, the Chang family decided to stay in the United States. They wanted to start a new life there.

The Chef's Journey: Moving Around Restaurants

Working Under a New Name

After leaving the Chinese Embassy, Peter Chang started working at a Chinese restaurant called China Star in Fairfax, Virginia. To keep a low profile, he used a different name, "Mr. Liu." The restaurant had typical American Chinese cuisine, but Peter Chang also cooked special, more complex Sichuan cuisine dishes from a Chinese menu.

Becoming Famous and Moving On

Food lovers on a website called DonRockwell.com and a food critic named Todd Kliman discovered Peter Chang's amazing cooking. As more people found out about him, he became very popular. This increased attention led him to leave China Star and move to another restaurant called TemptAsian in Alexandria, Virginia.

After a review of TemptAsian was published, Peter Chang moved again to a new restaurant in Fairfax called Szechuan Boy. When another review came out in Washingtonian magazine, Peter Chang decided to leave Virginia completely.

Across the Southeastern U.S.

In September 2006, people found Peter Chang working at Tasty China in Marietta, Georgia. He left that restaurant by spring 2007. Then, in June 2008, he was found at Hong Kong House in Knoxville, Tennessee. In fall 2009, Peter Chang moved to Taste of China in Charlottesville, Virginia. This restaurant quickly became very popular, with long lines of people waiting to eat his food.

"Where's Chang?" Article

In March 2010, The New Yorker magazine published an article called "Where's Chang?". It talked about Peter Chang's many moves and the reviews written by Todd Kliman. The article also mentioned John Binkley, a retired economist who had eaten at all of Chang's restaurants and became friends with his family. This article made Peter Chang famous across the country. By the end of that month, he had left Taste of China, saying he had disagreements with the owner.

Peter Chang was seen at Tasty China in Georgia in late March 2010. In December of that year, he opened Peter Chang's Tasty China II in Sandy Springs, near Atlanta.

Building a Restaurant Empire

Finding Stability and Partners

In March 2011, Peter Chang opened Peter Chang's China Grill in Charlottesville. This time, he partnered with Gen Lee, another Chinese chef and restaurant owner. Gen Lee had met Peter Chang when he ran a sandwich shop next to Taste of China. Peter Chang and his wife were able to get permission from immigration authorities to work in the United States. Opening China Grill meant Peter Chang's days of moving from kitchen to kitchen were over.

Expanding Across Virginia and Maryland

Gen Lee and Peter Chang opened Peter Chang China Café in Short Pump, a suburb of Richmond, Virginia, in early 2012. In 2012, Bon Appétit magazine named China Café one of the 50 Best New Restaurants in America.

In September 2012, Peter Chang opened Peter Chang Cafe in Williamsburg, Virginia. In May 2013, he opened Peter Chang's China Cafe in Fredericksburg, Virginia. On March 14, 2015, a restaurant with his name opened in Arlington, Virginia. He also opened a restaurant in Rockville, Maryland, on April 15, 2015.

On June 5, 2016, Peter Chang opened a new restaurant in the Scott's Addition Historic District of Richmond. These restaurants, opened since 2010 with Gen Lee, are now known as "Peter Chang [location]". There are seven locations listed on their website: Arlington, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Short Pump, Virginia Beach, and Williamsburg, Virginia; and Rockville, Maryland.

New and Exciting Restaurants

In May 2017, Peter Chang opened a new restaurant in Bethesda, Maryland, called Q by Peter Chang. In March 2018, he opened a restaurant in the Stamford Town Center Mall in Stamford, Connecticut. He worked with Bill Xia, a businessman who suggested Stamford for Chang's first restaurant in the northeastern U.S..

In March 2019, Peter Chang opened Mama Chang in Fairfax, Virginia. This restaurant features recipes from his wife and his mother. Mama Chang was very popular, with about 1,000 diners on its opening weekend. In May 2019, The Washington Post restaurant critic, Tom Sietsema, named Mama Chang the best new restaurant in the Washington area.

In July 2020, Peter and Lisa Chang opened NiHao in Baltimore. In October 2022, Chang opened Chang Chang in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C.. This was his first restaurant in Washington, D.C. In May 2024, Chang opened a second NiHao restaurant in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.

Awards and Media Recognition

Top Chef Nominations

Peter Chang was a finalist for a James Beard Award in 2016 for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic. The James Beard Awards are like the "Oscars" for chefs. He has cooked several times at the James Beard House in New York City. One special dinner in November 2019 celebrated "The Chang Mystique," showing how unique his cooking is.

Featured on TV Shows

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

Praise from Major Publications

A December 2019 article in The Economist magazine talked about Chinese-American food. It mentioned how, starting in the mid-2000s, people who loved Chinese food on America's east coast were always wondering: "Where was Peter Chang?" The article called him a "prodigiously talented" chef who moved around a lot. It described one of his soups, made with pickled mustard greens and fresh sea bass, as "hauntingly perfect."

In October 2023, Peter Chang's restaurant Chang Chang was added to the Michelin Guide for Washington, D.C. The guide described the restaurant as having a "sleek, minimalist aesthetic" and serving "elevated takes on classic Chinese dishes."