How Peter Chang’s Legendary Restaurants Handle the Christmas Rush | Eater

"An unforgettable Christmas anecdote opens the portrait of this Bethesda restaurant: on December 25, 2021 the author spent two hours in a queue of cars with hazards flashing, a jam-packed dining room, a throng of masked customers waiting for pickup, and an “ocean of bagged to-go orders,” finally receiving “a giant sack with gong bao chicken, cumin lamb, dry-fried green beans and more” at 8 p.m. The author recalls, “I’d felt God in that Chinese restaurant that night, the God that has sustained my people and brought us prosperity in this country,” and notes a small family ritual of saying a little shehecheyanu before diving into the twice-cooked pork. When the author later told Lydia Chang, Peter’s daughter and CEO, how meaningful that night had been she replied, “Oh, I remember that night. It was my worst nightmare.” Behind the scenes, the kitchen is meticulously organized: a crew of wok cooks, oven/steamer staff, duck carvers and pancake rollers who turn out signature scallion pancakes “which puff up into a glorious crackling spheroid,” and on the night observed a gigantic 14-course, all-crab banquet for 40 was field‑marshaled and plated by Peter Chang himself. The restaurant refuses holiday prix fixe menus and insists on serving the full menu even on the holiday rush; Peter takes over an area and hand‑carves almost every duck himself. Peter’s own take on the season is blunt: he says the only English word he’s used all night is “Crazy!” and adds, “I’m scared of the holiday. It’s very profitable, but it’s too exhausting, too anxious.” The fast service for which the kitchen is known relies on masterful wok technique, staggering heat, and obsessive mise en place so that a dish “may go from pickup to plating in a single minute,” and Fuschia Dunlop’s line captures the motion perfectly: “When I watch an accomplished chef stir-frying... I see a magician, a worker of wonders. A chef may be battle-scarred, chain-smoking, inarticulate — and yet the grace of his movements, his extraordinary mental and physical agility, makes me gasp.” Practical tips from the team: order takeout early (Peter recommends having your order in by 3 p.m. the day you plan to eat), and for ducks place orders a day or two ahead; and, if nothing else, “tip like it’s the most wonderful time of the year.”" - Samuel Ashworth