Review | Small plates rule at two new Chinese restaurants from Peter Chang (2024)

Each member of the Chang chain differs, sometimes slightly, from the others. Some are grand. See: Q by Peter Chang in Bethesda, the chef’s headquarters. Some promote a different style of cooking. Witness the homey fare at Mama Chang in Fairfax. And some, like the oh-so-blue Peter Chang McLean, come in different colors. The latest additions to the pack expand the variety. The Arlington branch focuses on the Sichuan fire Chang fell for when he moved from his home in Wuhan to Chengdu to study classical Chinese cooking. Gaithersburg is the first restaurant to feature Chinese-flavored “tapas.” What links the two are consistent quality, one of the most challenging aspects for any restaurant — and one of the reasons diners become regulars.

Your first glimpse may be the bartender. One of the many attractive details about the restaurant — NiHao, which also has a branch in Baltimore, translates to “hello” and is frequently followed by “Have you eaten yet?” — is the bar, which opens to the sidewalk and captures a view of the Water Park outdoor food court across the street. Visitors who might not commit to a meal pull up to the exterior counter for some liquid refreshment chased back with people-watching.

That’s my biggest problem with NiHao: so many choices, so little time. We’re talking nearly 50 dishes on the all-day menu. You’d miss the point of the place if you skipped something that numbs the tongue. Cold sliced tendon and tripe, scattered with crushed peanuts and earthy cilantro and painted with chile oil, amounts to an offal good time. The meat salad is billed “husband and wife,” a reference to a Chengdu street food vendor who became known for his rendition of the snack in the 1930s and reportedly enjoyed a harmonious marriage with his wife and business partner. Other selections — the blimp-like scallion pancake, the dry-fried eggplant — borrow from previous Chang establishments.

NiHao also offers good versions of Chinese standards. Here’s the place to get kung pao chicken, colorful with bell peppers, crisp with peanuts and punchy with dark vinegar and soy sauce. Unwrapping a lotus leaf feels like opening a gift: Inside, sticky rice is filled with a little treasure of steamed chicken, pork, shrimp and other goodies. You may wait 15 minutes for the soup dumplings, but patience pays off when you bite off the top of the bauble and drink in a hot stream of restorative pork broth.

Vegetarians will have a field day at NiHao, whose meatless marvels include a salad of wood ear mushrooms, pleasantly gelatinous and teasing with vinegar and pickled vegetables, and a heap of chewy ribbons of housemade tofu skin mixed with cilantro stems and slices of red onion. (The latter is best ordered “spicy.”) Dry-fried green beans — crisp, bright, onion-sweetened and wrinkled from their time in the wok — and a stir-fry of eggs, Chinese celery, green peppers and silken tofu skin represent the kitchen’s homier, equally delicious, efforts.

The menu invites everyone to the party, deploying symbols to flag vegan options and alert diners to dishes with nuts and gluten-free possibilities.

Service isn’t always as breezy and efficient as at other Chang properties. While the hosts are good ambassadors, some of the attendants are unfortunately good at not making eye contact or seeing to the needs of diners. My patience was tested one lunch when it took a village and 30 minutes to get an order of scallop dumplings. The wait was so long, I paid my bill and strolled outside, sans seafood. As I was about to drive off, a young manager rushed out with the missing dish. Nice save, but it would have been better to eat the pearly bites inside, from their steamer basket.

The high-ceilinged space is undeniably handsome, dressed with shiny tiled walls and banquettes in different shades of green, and chairs in powder blue. The most attractive feature of all, though, may be the prices. NiHao’s small plates, big on flavor, average about $9 each.

This restaurant distinguishes itself with a sense of intimacy. Before diners turn into the airy dining room, they pass a wall of family photographs. One captures the famous chef at the 2016 James Beard awards in Chicago, where he was a finalist for Best Chef: Mid-Atlantic. Another finds him hoisting his granddaughter, London, now 19 months old. There are framed magazine and newspaper covers splashed with his mug and a snapshot of Chang with an Amish farmer in a field in the Finger Lakes in Upstate New York.

The man gets around.

So should you. In more cases than not, wherever Chang opens a restaurant, it automatically becomes the best place for Chinese in the vicinity. This is true in Gaithersburg, home to a dining room outfitted with big windows and red walls whose depictions of birds, butterflies and gold clouds are meant to evoke a sky familiar to Chinese villagers, says Lydia Chang, the chef’s daughter and business partner.

“Have you been here before?” a server asks before telling me the new branch specializes in “smaller” plates. The portions are a bit bigger than traditional appetizers; two or three dishes seem sufficient for most diners. Like it hot? Tuck into a cold dish of “Chengdu spicy mouthwatering” sliced steamed chicken that delivers on the menu’s description and is jazzier for notes of crushed peanuts and diced scallions. Only slightly less fiery is a swirl of thin dan dan noodles festooned with crumbled pork and crushed nuts.

As at NiHao, the list makes me wish I had an army of companions to sample its breadth. Basics including walnut shrimp — creamy with mayonnaise and seasoned so neither honey nor lemon dominate — are executed well. “Mama’s” long, slightly chewy handmade wheat noodles, slick with chile oil, remind diners that Chang has been greatly helped on his journey by the women in his life, in this case, his wife, co-chef Lisa Chang.

The modest elegance of the restaurant surfaces in accommodating service, a fringe of greenery over the windows and the background music. I remember being greeted by the theme song to “Grease” at NiHao — and tinkling piano music at Peter Chang Gaithersburg.

The lone dish I wouldn’t eagerly eat again is wedges of eggplant that go down like caramelized apples, too sweet for my taste. Sweetness also throws the fried popcorn chicken, speckled with onions and green peppers, off balance.

The kitchen offers a handful of “party” dishes designed for groups (which have the option of two round tables in a separate space, big enough for 30). The larger selections include Peking duck, offered half or whole, and a sputtering soup presented in a big metal bowl over a gentle flame. The animated spectacle finds soft fish balls the size of marbles and flat, yolk-edged fish cakes in a pale golden chicken broth, thick with fermented cabbage and torched with jalapeños. Tart goji berries finish the picture. Even for two, it’s a big gulp.

For the full Chang experience, wash back lunch or dinner with a crisp and refreshing beer custom-brewed in Baltimore for a handful of the chef’s restaurants. The flecks suspended in the lager reveal the featured ingredient: rice, wouldn’t you know.

Gentle prices and made-to-order cooking translate to lots of return company. Jin Cai, who helps Peter Chang open new restaurants, says she sees at least 10 of the same faces eat here up to three times a week. Membership has its privileges. One of the regulars, “Mr. Jack,” is about to be recognized with a drink in his name, Cai says.

I’m not done. Because neither is Peter Chang. He tells me he’s opening his next restaurant in Herndon later this summer.

Ready, set, chopsticks.

1550 Crystal City Dr., Arlington. 703-512-4109. nihaoarlington.com. Open for indoor dining, delivery and takeout 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Prices: small plates $4 to $15. Sound check: 79 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: No barriers to entrance; ADA-compliant restrooms.

637 N. Frederick Ave., Gaithersburg. 240-912-4962. peterchanggaithersburg.com. Open for indoor dining, delivery and takeout 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Prices: small plates $3 to $18, party dishes $19 to $78 (for whole Peking duck). Sound check. 74 decibels/Must speak with raised voice. Accessibility: No barriers to entry; ADA-compliant restrooms