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Matthew Eng northern virginia offbeat eats Springfield

Offbeat Eats: The Best Chinese Food in NOVA 

By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA

Most families have some sort of communal food tradition that brings them together. Maybe it is a Sunday supper or spaghetti on Wednesday nights. My family always came together by eating Chinese dim sum on the weekends. 

Originating from the Cantonese food tradition in tea houses, dim sum is a Chinese meal traditionally enjoyed during the “brunch” hours. Delicate dishes of shareable items, smaller than American appetizers and larger than a snack, are traditionally brought around to tables in steam carts for guests to choose and share. As such, dim sum is translated to “touching heart,” a term used to denote small food and the drinking of tea. 

This alligator don’t want none unless you got bao buns, hun. 

Unfortunately, finding good Chinese food (or dim sum for that matter) in Northern Virginia is hard to find. Let me clarify: I am talking about Chinese food, not Asian food. If you open the realm to all Asian food, there are myriad excellent options in the area. Chinese food, however, is less easy to find. 

If you talk to anybody from Northern Virginia about Chinese food, they undoubtedly will say “go to Peking Gourmet Inn.” 

Ok. Is the Peking duck there good? 

Yes. 

Is anything else? 

No. Sorry. That’s a hot take, but I wasn’t impressed by its offerings outside of the Peking duck. What else is there? Peter Chang? Peter Chang is a chain that was impressive fifteen years ago. I’ve been to a few of his restaurants around Virginia, and I wasn’t wowed.

All of the good Chinese food in the DMV is in Maryland. If you read the Eater guide to the best Chinese food in the DMV, the first seven are in Maryland. If you want the best in the area, look no further than Noodle King in Colesville. Get the Hong Kong Fried Fish. 

But if you are in Northern Virginia, I think I’ve found the best Chinese food (i.e. Dim Sum). Far superior to other area heavy-hitters Hong Kong Pearl, Mark’s Duck House, and Han Palace, Springfield’s Hot Peppercorn Asian Cuisine & Bar offers hot and fresh Chinese food at prices that won’t break the bank (unlike Han Palace). 

This excellent restaurant is almost never mentioned, therefore it is a perfect qualifier for something offbeat. It’s not in Trip Advisor, Yelp, or NextDoor suggestions for local Chinese cuisine. But it’s better than anything else out there. Located in the far corner of a bustling shopping center (Springfield Plaza) off Old Keene Mill Road, the restaurant sits next to TWO busy grocery stores, Trader Joe’s and Giant. It would be easy to look past the restaurant in the ocean of vehicles and cart returns. But it’s there, and it is delicious. 

For years, the space was occupied by Golden Hong Kong, a decent restaurant that offered select dim sum delicacies. In March 2021, chef Alvin Zhang took the helm and renamed the restaurant Hot Peppercorn, adding spicy dishes inspired by the Sichuan province. 

Every time we have gone to the restaurant, it has been only half full. I think that is largely attributed to its location and not the quality of the restaurant itself. The space is well lit, clean, and adequately distanced.

Unlike most dim sum restaurants, you order your dim sum from a sheet of paper like a sushi roll order at a Japanese restaurant. There are no carts to wheel around your food to you. Although the restaurant takes a hit for authenticity, you are also almost always guaranteed your food is coming out hot and fresh each time. It also might explain why dim sum at Hot Peppercorn is served all day. I can’t tell you how many times we have been served lukewarm or cold dishes at other restaurants in the area. 

Some of my favorites for dim sum are the fried taro dumplings (Woo Kok), sticky rice in lotus leaf (Lo Mai Gai), and of course, the Siu Mai. 

The Xiao long bao, or soup dumplings, are not earth-shattering but hit the spot. They come out hot and fresh, which makes them delicious after slurping the pork broth under the chewy dough that surrounds it. Pair that with the restaurant’s tangy black vinegar, and they are a staple for your meal. When is Din Tai Fung opening a DC area location?

Unfortunately, there are only a few items my family has ordered aside from the dim sum. The lo mein (for the kids) was decent and the more “adult” gai see chow mein was crispy and flavorful. It just means I need to go back for more dishes, right? The fried calamari was another off-dim sum item that I would highly recommend. The batter is light and spicy — a perfect companion to the Jasmine tea they serve there. My wife loves the fried turnip cakes and the Sesame Shrimp (from the regular menu). 

As always, you need to eat all of your dim sum with copious amounts of hot chili oil, which is unsurprisingly spicy at a restaurant of its kind. 

For a restaurant not exclusively known for dim sum, Hot Peppercorn tops my list for the best Chinese food in the area. If you don’t mind suffering PTSD from the parking situation, I highly recommend this offbeat eat for a weekend meal shared with your family. 

6396 Springfield Plaza, Springfield

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Matthew Eng offbeat eats Prince Willilam County

Offbeat Eats: Et Tu, Egg Foo Young? (UPDATE)

By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA

This is an update to our January 23, 2021 Offbeat Eats article on the Taste of Asian restaurant in Gainesville, VA. You can read it HERE.

Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain
Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate
– “Danny Nedelko,” Idles

I have previously mentioned that I do not get to see my parents that often during this COVID pandemic. Although my parents moved up to the Northern Virginia in December 2019 from Virginia Beach, our plans to get together often were prematurely cut short due to the Coronavirus. Since then, this last year has only saw my family visiting my parents a handful of times. They are thankfully taking precautions as serious as we are. 

Not everybody should be Florida…nor should they. Anyways. 

We had a chance to get together this past weekend. If you read our brief Offbeat Eats article on Chinese food, you might venture to guess where I wanted to pick up food after our visit: Taste of Asian in Gainesville. My dad took out his take out menu from the restaurant and jotted down several soups, appetizers, and dishes for everyone to share. That of course included my personal favorite, egg foo young. My dad left the room to make the phone call to place our order while my daughter played with my mom. Several minutes later, my dad entered the living room from his office looking perturbed. When I asked why, he said he tried calling several times without an answer. Puzzled myself, I went to find the number on Google to make the call when I saw a short line of text written underneath the restaurant’s name: Permanently Closed. 

It seems that Taste of Asian had closed between the last time we visited in late January and March 2021. When I told my dad, he lowered his head and held the takeout menu a little tighter. He seemed a little upset while he stared at the order he would never make. I knew why. He didn’t even have to tell me.

My father is Chinese. He was born in Hong Kong in 1951. He lived in a one room apartment in the slums of the city. No running water. No toilets. Yet, through all of that, his family was resilient. His father left his family when he was an infant to work in a Jersey City laundromat to save up money for his family to immigrate. Jesuits taught my father English in the meantime, and when it came time for my family to come to the United States, my father was armed with a love of the New York Yankees (something still many feel is distinctly “American”) and the myriad possibilities America had to offer. 

Some Chinese call America the “Golden Mountain.” My family felt that way and took it to heart. Facing his own challenges of adversity, my dad worked hard and carved out his own path on that mountain. For him and countless other Asian immigrants of the “model minority,” I can only imagine how it must feel to see similar situations dashed due to Coronavirus. Sure, there are other businesses that have been forced to close due to the pandemic, but not at the rate and intensity of Asian businesses. And if you don’t believe me, there are facts and information. 2,800 hate incidences since March of 2020. Between February and April of 2020, an estimated 233,000 Asian-American small businesses closed. Restaurants, service industries, small businesses. There are two kinds of viruses that exist. One of the body and the other of the mind. 

I can’t tell you exactly why Taste of Asian closed. I can only speculate. But if I have learned anything, I have learned to trust my gut. My gut tells me that this wonderful restaurant was another casualty to Coronavirus and a decline in sales due to the prevalent thoughts of the time. I felt compelled to drive out to the restaurant to see if anyone was there. It was empty. The owners left a lovely note about their fifteen-year business. It breaks my heart to pieces.

Taste of Asian Closing Note (Matthew Eng/Offbeat NOVA)

I’ve seen racist comments from friends and family over this past year. I was mocked to a degree as a kid. There were only two or three other asians in my elementary school growing up, so I know I stuck out like a sore thumb. A few bullies squinted their eyes and thought it was funny. Seeing those comments took me back to a place I never thought I would have to visit again. I’ve kept my mouth shut for the most part. I am upset and ashamed for not speaking up. I mostly did it out of respect for family members or friendships. For one, I think of my daughter. She may only be one-quarter Asian, but I want her as proud of her heritage as I am. You can’t fight hate with hate. Only knowledge and understanding.

What I do know is that Taste of Asian was a small family business. When we were able to visit them in person, they always gave us excellent service with a smile. They served excellent food, and I hate updating my previous post on their egg foo young by telling you that I’ll never have it again. 

The egg foo young from the new place was okay, but not nearly as good as Taste of Asian’s.

We ended up supporting another Chinese restaurant down the street in Gainesville. Yes, we ordered the egg foo young. Unfortunately, it was not as good as Taste of Asian’s. 

Stop AAPI hate. For more information, visit this LINK. 

Be as water, my friends.

我愛你

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offbeat eats Prince Willilam County

Offbeat Eats: Egg Foo Young in Gainesville

By Matthew T. Eng, Offbeat NOVA

I don’t get to see my parents much because of COVID, so whenever we do get together safely, it is an event. My daughter counts down the days before we head over there to spend some quality time with her grandma and grandpa. They recently moved into a Gainesville semi-retirement community from Hampton Roads at the end of 2019 when my father (thankfully) retired. 

The first time we visited their house in Gainesville back in pre-COVID times at the end of 2019, we decided to go out to eat and celebrate their new and exciting future in Northern Virginia. The problem was we didn’t know where to eat. We did what anybody does in an area they aren’t familiar with: go immediately to Yelp and see what restaurant is rated best. For the area, the highest rated place in the vicinity was a barbecue joint called “JIMBO’s.” We figured we would give it a try. Hey, maybe it would be our new favorite spot to come when visiting mom and dad. Right?

Wrong. 

We walked in, and the place was crowded. It smelled of smoke and the music was too loud. It looked like somewhere I would love to go to when I was younger and dumber. It definitely wasn’t somewhere you take your three-year-old. We walked out of there and kept looking in the shopping center off Heathcote Boulevard. It was cold in December 2019, so we knew we had to make some fast decisions. Thankfully, there was an asian restaurant right next to JIMBO’s called Taste of Asian. There were a few people in there, thus passing my dad’s “won’t go anywhere that is COMPLETELY empty, so we decided went inside out of the cold. 

The first meal there was fantastic. Enthusiastic service. Hot food. They even gave Zelda some fried donuts, most likely because my father ordered so much food. THAT became our go-to place every time we visited my parents. It still is. The more we went, the more dishes we tried, until I found the one I can’t live without when I make a visit. Every time I visit my parents in Gainesville, I only have one thing in mind off their menu: egg foo young. I’ve eaten this particular Chinese-American fusion dish in almost every Chinese takeout place I frequent. I can confidently say, without reservation, that Taste of Asian in Gainesville has the best egg food young I have ever had.  

What makes it so special and delectable for casual Asian-American diners and Chinese food purists alike? Well, it turns out that answer is a bit complicated. 

As chef and food blogger Melissa Joulwan said in her excellent writeup on egg foo young, the dish has a “deliciously confused identity.” I won’t bore you with the history, mostly because she has already written an incredibly succinct one on her website HERE. 

I like to get rid of the stigma that eggs are only for breakfast. Culinarily, that seems distinctly American, doesn’t it? Look, James Bond ate eggs for dinner quite often in the novels. You can, too. 

As unique as the dish is, egg foo young falls in line with a lot of strikingly similar egg-centric dishes in Asian cuisine. The Filipino torta. Japanese okinomiyaki. Malaysian roti john. Indian masala omelette. Korean gyeran jjim. The list goes on. 

While there are obviously variations to each of these, they all follow a similar pattern of some sort of egg omelette or pancake with vegetables, meat, and a sauce. Think of what you would normally get at your Chinese takeout place as another version of Americanized Chiense food, like Chop Suey or a crab rangoon (sorry if you think people from China people eat that).

The traditional ingredients include several eggs, onions, bean sprouts, cabbage, and some sort of meat to help bind everything together. The version at Taste of Asian skips a lot of the vegetables and focuses more on the cabbage, onion, and egg. In a sense, it somewhat resembles the okinomyaki previously mentioned. It is then fried in hot oil until crispy on the edges and soft and fluffy in the center. A gravy is made from the leftover oil using a simple flour mixture and served on the side to pour over the hot and greasy egg pancakes over rice. 

It truly is a dish to die for, and you very well may die from it. 

Let’s get one thing straight. This dish is absolutely delicious, but it does have its unintended (or intended?) consequences. The calorie count is not for the feint of heart. Looking online at a single serving of egg foo young will give you a sticker shock to say the least. Add in a healthy amount of steamed white rice and you have, at least for me, a once every few months guilty (and I mean guilty) pleasure. And trust me: it tastes MUCH better than it looks.

Egg Foo Young from Taste of Asian

When we first got the pork egg foo young from Taste of Asian, I was expecting to eat only a half piece. After all, the pancakes are as large as the circumference of a traditional round Chinese restaurant takeout container. I ate a full piece, complete with two helpings of gravy. I wanted more, but knew that would probably be a bad idea. Nowadays, I limit myself to a half piece on top of my rice with gravy. You can’t give a junkie a full fix all the time, right? By the end of the meal, my dad and I are fighting over the remaining pieces to take home for leftovers.

D E S T R O Y E D

I know this doesn’t need to be said, but if you are in the area, you should check out this restaurant. In fact, if you are looking for takeout, get one from an asian-run business. One thing that isn’t talked about is the negative stigma of COVID against asians, especially for Chinese. I shudder to think how many Asian-owned businesses have been negatively impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. So, do yourself a favor and order yourself this heartbeat-racing comfort food (and a few others) and enjoy it with your family. 

Oh, and wear a mask while you’re at it. 

Taste of Asian website (they aren’t a sponsor or anything…just really good food)