Chinese haute cuisine will appeal to 'foodies'

WILLIAMSBURG?

? With the Gazette's year-end "Best of" contest right around the corner, a new contender for dining honors has debuted on Richmond Road.

Peter Chang China Cafe, which opened last week at the former site of Wasabi, had its official ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday.

If your idea of Chinese food is shrimp fried rice, chop suey and egg rolls, Chang's food will open new vistas. Chang, a renowned Szechwan restaurant chef with restaurants in Charlottesville and Richmond, makes Chinese food with a haute cuisine attitude.

China Cafe is a restaurant sure to charm "foodies." Chef Chang spares no seasonings. Many of his dishes are rated as hot and spicy on a pepper scale of 1,2,3. Even those not rated may be somewhat spicy to a Virginia palate.

"Don't get more than one hot pepper," manager Gen Lee warned guests at Friday's lunch, having gauged the area's taste for spice over the past week.

Some couldn't resist. One of Chang's three-pepper dishes is "Hot and Numbing Combination in a Hot Pot." A sample was served to a table of dignitaries that included Mayor Clyde Haulman, Vice Mayor Paul Freiling and City Councilman Doug Pons. Gauging the red faces and beads of sweat that followed, it lived up to its title.

Among appetizers served Friday were Coriander Fish Rolls and Dry-fried Eggplant, breaded eggplant with cilantro, consumed with gusto even by a diner who claimed to "detest" eggplant.

While Peter Chang China Cafe has fine dining prices at night, with some entrees north of $20, the lunch menu is more wallet-friendly. Lunch specials, which include soup, vegetarian spring roll and white or fried rice, are priced at about $8.

Lee noted that customers in from their other restaurants in Charlottesville and Richmond, as well as from North Carolina, have visited. He said one customer came twice one day.

"She came for lunch, went shopping, and came back for dinner," he said.

Source: http://www.vagazette.com/va-vg-changs-1006-20121006,0,4273090.story?track=rss

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