Chang Chang — Restaurant in Washington

With all the hype and fanfare around Peter Chang, I was unbelievably excited when my coworkers recommended that we celebrate the end of our project with a dinner at Chang Chang.

Our reservation was set for a Friday evening -- the restaurant was virtually empty when we first arrived at 6 PM, but by the time we left a few hours later, it was bustling. The restaurant itself was gorgeous, with delightful wooden / bamboo booths and an all-around light, cheery ambiance. The service was all-around incredible and super friendly, although one piece did throw me off a bit at the beginning of our meal -- we had ordered Chang Chang's famous duck 4 ways dish in advance as a part of our reservation. Given that the dish takes 45 minutes to prepare, I would have assumed that they would begin cooking it slightly ahead of our arrival, or at least once we had sat down. That, however, was not the case -- they didn't start preparing the dish until they took our initial food orders (not even during our drink orders) ~20 min after we had already sat down. I can understand why they wouldn't want to start cooking before we got there, as there's always a risk of a no-show (despite the cancellation / no-show fees on the reservations), but it feels like a miss to not start preparing the dish right when we arrived.

Even so, we were able to fill the time with a flurry of small plates -- we ordered the Shanghai Ribs, Wok Charred Eggplant, and Black & White Cauliflower. I can't speak to the ribs (as a pescatarian) but the eggplant and cauliflower were delightful. I'm a sucker for anything with sesame, so the slightly charred cauliflower crusted with nutty, aromatic black / white sesame seeds was right up my alley. It was also paired with goji berries (which our server accidentally called raisins ), which provided a beautiful burst of sweetness. The eggplant was also lovely, although a touch too heavy-handed on the oil; the egg whites on the sides were a fun touch, although definitely threw me for a loop.

We also ordered the steamed branzino, as I wouldn't be able to partake in the duck. This was definitely my favorite dish of the night -- the branzino was perfectly tender. It was coated in fresh chilis and herbs, which added much-needed brightness to the meal. And, as if a whole branzino wasn't enough protein, the fish was also sitting on a bed of soft tofu, which soaked up all the lovely juices and sauces the fish steamed in.

By the time we had basically finished our other four dishes, the main star of the show, the duck, finally arrived. It was quite the operation -- as the name implies, the duck was prepared in 4 different ways: a duck dumpling for each person, a duck breast paired with roasted pears, duck drumsticks, and a confusing creation including black rice and puff pastry. According to my coworkers, the duck breast / drumsticks were surprisingly sweet, and the puff pastry concoction, while creative, was far from what they were expecting. It was also oddly sweet, and the combination of black rice, duck meat, and puff pastry was not as lovely as it sounded. Although it was a unique experience, it did not feel like it was worth the $120 price tag.

All in all, if you aren't looking to spend top dollar or are looking for classic, authentic Chinese cooking, then Chang Chang might not be the right place to go. If, however, you're looking for something fun, modern, and creative while still relying on traditional Chinese flavors, then absolutely give Chang Chang a try -- just make sure you're feeling especially adventurous if you decide to order the duck (and make sure you tell them to start...

Peter Chang is indeed doing excellent work; and this restaurant is almost a practical joke - Peter Chang does cheap Chinese Take-out. He has all sorts of nods to classic take-out Chinese American dishes on the menu. Be aware, the prices are about 2x to 3x what take-out normally costs. That's fine, this is not just food, it's performance art.

The challenge is that some dishes won't survive long transport. I just wouldn't order the seasonal snow pea greens (a great indicator of fine chinese dining and also on this menu for spring) for fear of having to reheat them. In my comments below - I ordered takeout and had to transport it an hour before eating. Everything I ordered transported well, I'm not sure how other things would fare. I ordered and gave a time for pickup, showed up 4 minutes early, got the bag and was out the door instantly. Everything smooth, easy, friendly.

On to the food - the duck soup is his version of the hot and sour that is on most menus. It has the same sort of density, mouth feel, without being dominated by cornstarch. You can get bits of duck gristle in there, so you know gelatin came from bones. The flavor is so rich, so deep, so terribly full of roast duck and umami. The kids reported a 'fermented' almost 'miso' flavor from the soybean. It's worth the investment.

The mapo tofu is a decently large portion of silken tofu bathed in a rich soypaste and chili oil sauce. Spicy notes cut through the rich, unctuous sauce, mildly numbing. Nothing to startle or alarm, eat with rice. It is finely tuned as would be expected from a Peter Chang restaurant, in a big plastic take out bowl that they wrap aggressively in plastic because oil will leak.

Twice cooked pork is everything it should be. Just spicy enough. Just fatty enough. Absolutely on point, survives transport. Even the kid who doesn't like spicy declared it her favorite. I really don't have much to say because it is so very good. I think Peter Chang's roots show through on this, with the fermented black beans, multiple peppers, mild numbing - just so balanced and elegant. It begs to be placed on porcelain to be served.

Golden Mountain refers to San Francisco as viewed from central china in the 1800s/early 1900s. On a whim, I tried the Golden Mountain Beef. It's strips of beef battered, fried, and sauced with a sweet orange sauce heavy on the zest and balanced elegantly against the batter, beef. Jen 8 Lee would be pleased. It's not at all food from China. It's chinese food from America. It's delicious but needs to be recrisped if transported, which can be challenging. The sauce is so much more than you would expect.

Beef Chow Fun also survives transport. It's a modest thing, exactly as you'd get in a Cantonese restaurant, rich, and thick and hearty. Quality beef, cooked through, good rich sauce. A solid foundation and a joy to eat; it doesn't have any obvious refinements but it also doesn't fall into any traps. It was, at home, as good as I'd expect had I...

TLDR: polite waiters, terrible management

I recently attended a networking event at Chang Chang. Shortly after I arrived, while standing at the bar, a server came up to me and offered me a plate of spring rolls. At the same time, other servers were handing out complimentary food to other event guests standing and chatting near the bar. Thinking, as one might, that the food I was offered — and never asked for or ordered — was complimentary, I took a spring roll.

In hindsight, it was a bit odd that the server — who was very polite — handed me the whole tray, but my attention was divided as I was also ordering a drink at the bar when he came up to me. There were only three spring rolls on the tray, and I ate one of them before placing the tray on the bar to allow other guests to partake.

However, after I got my drink from the bartender — who was also very polite — a middle aged lady who I can only presume was the manager came out from the kitchen and informed me that I had been mistaken and that the spring rolls had been meant for someone dining at a table somewhere else in the restaurant.

Before I could apologize and explain that the server had come up to me, she added that “well, since this happened, someone is going to have to pay for these” and promptly handed me the bill.

I did not want to make a scene, given that I was there to meet and greet, so I ate the cost and paid. I handed the manager my credit card and turned to resume a conversation I had been having before I was interrupted. A moment later, the manager tapped me sharply on the shoulder and shoved the merchant copy of the bill into my hand to sign.

I paid and continued networking before leaving, having not confronted the manager to avoid causing a scene.

However, in a situation like this, where her own server made the mistake by offering me the food and where I made an easily understandable mistake given the context of free food being passed around, it was frankly very unprofessional and stingy of the manager to force me to pay for something of such low value.

If I’d eaten caviar by mistake, then perhaps the manager’s reaction would have been understandable, if still rude.

Regardless, if a restaurant makes a mistake, they should eat the cost, not force a guest to do so. The unprofessional and frankly rude manner in which the manager dealt with the situation — without asking me what happened — was shocking and from my perspective seemed like she was taking advantage of me (I was clearly a young person feeling a bit nervous at that type of event, so she must have figured she could force me to pay for a minor error — one which was half her server’s mistake.)

The manager’s action, though small, was an extremely poor mark of character, and makes me question the type of people who run Chang Chang who would hire such a rude and unhospitable manager.

Needless to say, I will not be going back to Chang Chang.

As for the spring rolls, they were good but not exceptional — and...