Peter Chang Richmond VA

What a shithole city Richmond is... Is everyone on drugs in this town? The streets are filthy and the sun seems to never shine at 37.5407° N, 77.4360° W which is basically the coordinates to a dumpster or an Airbnb for the homeless. I was passing through VA and remembered that the Houdini of chefs, Peter Chang, had a location here... And I had to stop in for a bite no matter how depressing this hellhole was. I hope this place is still in business... Maybe I'll even see the infamous Sichuan specialist himself... Yeah, right, keep dreaming, Pouch. I saw him once back in the old Tasty China many many moons ago. They don't call him the magic man for nothing... He's like Cal Naughton, Jr., now you see me, now you don't. He's more elusive than Michael Jackson. Oh, wait, he's dead.. Or is he? For all we know, Peter Chang may be partying with Elvis and Hitler in Brazil laughing about the good ol'days over an order of his prized dry-fried eggplant. The current rumor is that he is about to open up another resto called Chang Chang, his first in DC.

Since, I'm already here in the armpit of the Mason-Dixon line I might as well take my chances and see if I can score some dry-fried eggplant... Please please be open...

Don't make me break down these doors a la Popeyes...

Somebody loves themselves a little bit too much...

Dry Fried Eggplant, lightly battered egg plant sticks, deep fried and stir-fried with Szechuan peppercorn and chili, scallions and cilantro. Why is this served in a giant fucking clamshell from the 1970's? I didn't know eggplant came from the sea. What's really sad is that my parents had a shell like this in the bathroom and it had all sorts of soaps and mini bottles of shampoo collected from motels when we were on the lam back in the mid 1900's... Wait, maybe those were our poor people vacations, same difference. The dry fried eggplant here were different than the incredible ones I remembered at Tasty China. These didn't have the Sichuan seasoning on the eggplant fries. They just kinda toss the chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns and cilantro, etc together with the deep fried eggplant sticks... Didn't seemed like they were wok tossed after the fry stage. But they were still pretty tasty. Not their best version but still very acceptable.

Szechuan Dan Dan Noodles with Beef. Once, again, not like the version I had at TC in the days of yore. But the presentation was acceptable. Mixed everything up and the flavors developed pretty quickly. I was hungry as fuck so this was probably better than it really was. But I'll take it.

Crispy Pork Belly, slightly battered pork belly, deep-fried and stir-fried with scallion, cilantro, dried chili pepper and Szechuan peppercorn. I don't remember this dish at TC but it's basically floured fat fried in fat... And it was fucking dericious. Ok, don't tell anyone but it was just fucking slices of bacon, battered and deep fried. Who doesn't love deep fried bacon... And to give it that spicy Sichuan spin to it makes it all the better. This was a really crave-worthy dish but I don't know if I would go back to this shithole town for it. 

This joint may have the Peter Chang's name on it but it doesn't fully have the Peter Chang magic unless the man himself is there behind the wok... It's like all smoke and mirror and each dish was just an image of the original... It may look like his food but tasted the opposite... Except the crispy pork belly, they were pretty amazing. 

2816 W Broad St A

Richmond, VA 23230

http://peterchangrestaurant.com/