First Place:
Peter Chang
2816 W. Broad St.
728-1820
11424 W. Broad St.
364-1688
peterchangrestaurant.com
Second Place (TIE): Fat Dragon Chinese Kitchen and Bar, Mekong Restaurant
Third Place: Sabai
Honorable Mention: Mom’s Siam
Enigmatic chef Peter Chang runs a veritable empire of restaurants, with locations from Scott’s Addition, opened in 2016, and Short Pump, opened in 2012, to Charlottesville, Northern Virginia, Williamsburg and Virginia Beach.
This will be the restaurant’s fifth year receiving the title of Best Local Asian, and for good reason, Chang has cooked all over, even working for the Chinese embassy in Washington, and his Sichuan cuisine earned him a James Beard nod in 2016.
Chang fans frequent his restaurants for the dry-fried eggplant, pan-seared lamb chops and scallion bubble pancakes with curry sauce. Both locations are currently open for lunch and dinner.
This year’s second-place winners have one thing in common they know their way around a drink list. Modern Chinese restaurant Fat Dragon, part of Eat Restaurant Group, is a local favorite, drawing in customers for lunch, dinner and happy hour. Its libations are reason enough to pop in for a bite at the bar, with specialty cocktails like a Sake-Tini and Yisheng Manhattan. Popular items at the Vietnamese Mekong Restaurant include crispy spring rolls and the vermicelli bowl, and, of course, beer: It owns the Answer Brewpub next door. Broad Street Thai restaurant Sabai just re-opened for indoor dining on Wednesdays to Mondays from 4 to 11 p.m. Veteran Thai Carytown restaurant Mom’s Siam is open for patio and indoor dining for lunch and dinner daily.