Peter Chang has been cooking in this region long enough to create a stable of dishes that fans claim favorites. I, for one, cannot leave whatever strip mall he happens to occupy without ordering bamboo fish and tofu skin in a hot and numbing sauce. The first is fried, heady with cumin and decorated in scallions, cilantro and dried chili peppers, and I dare anyone to find better fried fish in NoVA. The latter is a dish that satisfies my need to slurp with tofu thin and flat like fettuccine and slicked in a fiery oil.
Others on the list of cult hits include the dry-fried eggplant and the giant balloon-like scallion pancakes deflating just like the party prop.
In the summer there was a crisp cucumber salad ringing with ginger and this winter a housemade sausage, sliced thin and dry-fried for a chewy finish with heat. There’s shredded duck sliced off the bone tableside and fiery cauldrons of brisket in that quintessential numbing sauce. Don’t save room for General Tso. • 2503 N. Harrison St., Arlington
