The local foodies excited about Chef Peter Chang’s entrance into Maryland will have to be patient.
Gen Lee, Chang’s business partner, said Thursday they are just beginning construction at the Rockville Town Square restaurant and hope to open it by mid-April. Lee said they’ve been delayed by an unfamiliar permitting process in Montgomery County.
Lee had previously said they hoped to open the restaurant in January.
“Peter is very hyper,” Lee said. “He wants to open, he wants to open tomorrow, but we’ll have to wait.”
Chang, who once cooked at the Chinese Embassy in D.C., is known for his spicy Sichuan cooking style. His cuisine and his tendency to disappear at times have been featured in The New Yorker, New York Times, Washingtonian and elsewhere.
The new Rockville restaurant will fill the 3,100-square-foot former space of Taste of Saigon on Maryland Avenue. Since gaining fame after being featured in The New Yorker in 2010, Chang has opened five Virginia restaurants with Lee. The Rockville location is expected to serve some of the chef’s most popular dishes such as duck in stone pot, scallion bubble pancakes and grandma’s steamed pork belly.
The former Taste of Saigon space on Maryland Avenue will house Peter Chang’s new Rockville restaurant. Credit: Taste of Saigon