Peking Duck in Falls Church, VA

If you are ever in DC, you have to visit the Peking Gourmet. I've been visiting this restaurant for over 20 years and it is the best. I remember when you would have to call ahead to order a duck. Now, you can just pop in and get one when you order your dinner. (The number they serve a week is astronomical. I heard the number but can't remember now.) Of course, we have it as an appetizer, and the hub and I finished the whole thing--the gluttons we are! You'd think by looking at my pics that all we did was eat. Well, yes, of course, we have to eat well when in DC, Nashville is still on the learning curve when it comes to good, ethnic foods.

The duck was as good as ever. We savored every bite. The skin is tasty and crispy. That, along with a little meat, hoison sauce and some home-grown Chinese onion rolled in their special pancakes is a taste out of this world. That pancakes have a slight crispness to them. They're not the soggy ones you're probably accustomed to. Won set our table for us and made our first pancake to enjoy. He is the sweetest man.

After we finished our Peking duck, we had Sichuan string beans, rice and scallops. Of course, we were only able to eat a couple of bites after our duck appetizer, but it tasted so good. We enjoyed every bite.


We told Won that we had made the trip from Nashville just to enjoy the duck. The next thing we knew, Robert, the owner, came over to chat a bit. Robert and his brother George (who passed away a couple of years ago) have been running the place for 25 years. They are from Hong Kong and Robert says his wife still lives there since he is so busy with the restaurant. He gets back whenever he can. I'm sure his children are grown.

The whole restaurant is so unpretentious. It is tucked away in a strip mall in a less-than-desirable neighborhood. You'd never know it was there if you weren't familiar with the area. It was all abuzz in the 80s because the senior Bush, when he was VP and President, let his love of Chinese food be known. He frequented here and other good Chinese restaurants in the Washington area. Once, the hub and I even saw him exit from a private room at one of our other favs in DC. (Can't remember the name of it, and it's no longer there.) He was VP then and he walked by us and shook our hands as we greeted him. Kinda fun. Robert has pictures of every who's who of DC adorning the walls. When I mentioned there had been quite a few added since I was last there, he smiled and said "This is because we are in a military town." So humble. Isn't that nice?