Peter Chang: What's the Big Deal?

Why won’t every foodie in Richmond shut up about Peter Chang?

It takes a lot to get me to Short Pump. A lot.

I’m one of those annoying city snobs who regularly says things like, I try to never leave the city limits or (when I lived north of it), I don’t cross the river. In reality, anything from Target to a clearance sale at Macy’s has me crossing into county territory in seconds, but that doesn’t stop me from saying anything negative about it.

Still, Short Pump is its own beast; and so though I enter the counties far more than I care to admit, I truly rarely go to Short Pump, because, in my snobby city mind, all I’ll find once I get there is a wasteland of traffic congestion, strip malls and suburban chains.

So what, I asked myself, was I doing driving to Short Pump on a recent Wednesday night? In rush hour traffic. In the rain. Amid two accidents (one right before the 64 Short Pump exit, and one on Broad upon exiting). All to swerve my way into a Walmart shopping center and dine in a restaurant nestled near a Radio Shack and a Game Stop.

Peter Chang. Peter Chang is what I was doing in Short Pump.

To the untrained eye, Peter Chang’s China Café looks exactly like every other Chinese restaurant in Richmond. It’s in a strip mall, it serves Chinese food, and inside you’ll find a takeout counter and simple paired down décor.

So what makes this place so special?

Peter Chang. Peter Chang is what makes this place special. The China-born chef has cooked for dignitaries, been called the perfect chef by Washingtonian writer Todd Kilman, and for the past seven years he’s been hopscotching his was through kitchens up and down the southeast.

Now he’s landed in the Walmart shopping center in Short Pump, opening his brand-spanking new spot on Tuesday, Feb. 7, where he serves his award-wining Szechuan cuisine.

Szechuan cuisine, of course, is a style of Chinese cooking that uses an abundance of spice and chili peppers, and it’s quite possible that nobody does it better in the world than Peter Chang.

So is this what has Richmond foodies so excited?

Quite simply, yes.

When one of the most sought-after chefs in the world, one who was written up in The New Yorker, has been called the perfect chef, and who cooks a type of cuisine (Szechwan) rarely found around here opens a restaurant in your backyard, you go.

You run-don’t-walk to have a chance to taste something from a master working at the top of his game. In Richmond.

You just do. And you don’t complain that it’s in Short Pump, especially not when The Washington Post is touting its convenience to the Beltway, because that’s how good Chang is and that’s how exciting it is that he’s cooking in Richmond.

Is it worth it? You’ll have to judge that for yourself, but on Wednesday, Feb. 8, I (along with Richmond (and D.C.) food media) was treated to what can only be described as a food orgy hosted by Chang and co-owners Gen Lee and wife Mary Lee, and I say it is absolutely, 100 percent worth all the buzz. (You can read a fantastic play-by-play of the event here).

So Peter Chang is what gets me to Short Pump, and before it’s all said and done, it’s likely that Peter Chang will get all of Richmond to Short Pump.

And no matter how bad the traffic or how long the drive, at the end of the meal the only thing you’ll be able to say is thank you. And when can I come back.

Peter Chang’s China Café
11424 W. Broad St.
Reservations (yes, they take them!): (804) 364-1688
Take Out: (804) 364-1688
Sunday –Thursday: 11 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 11:00 a.m. – 10:30 p.m.

Dinner Entrees are $13 - $22.

Lunch Specials: $7.50