Prolific chef Peter Chang is cooking up a new restaurant in McLean

The growing restaurant empire forged by Chinese chef Peter Chang may soon expand to McLean.

Chang’s team has applied for a building permit from Fairfax County to take over the former House of Fortune space at 6715 Lowell Avenue, as the Washington Business Journal first reported on Tuesday (March 28).

An employee at Q by Peter Chang, the chef’s Bethesda restaurant, confirmed to FFXnow that a McLean location is in the works, but the exact concept is still being finalized. No opening date has been set, he said.

A semifinalist for “Outstanding Chef” at the 2022 James Beard Awards, Chang focuses on Szechuan cuisine after growing up in nearby Hubei province. He trained at a culinary school in Wuhan, China, before moving to the U.S. in 2001 to work as a chef at the Chinese Embassy in D.C.

Known as much for migratory habits and devoted fan base as for his food, Chang cooked for spots in Fairfax, Alexandria, Georgia and Tennessee before launching his first self-titled venture in Charlottesville and expanding to Arlington in 2015.

With wife and fellow chef Lydia and their daughter Lisa, who manages the business, also on board, the Chang family has established more than a dozen restaurants. In addition to the eight Peter Chang restaurants and Q by Peter Chang, the team is behind Chang Chang in D.C., NiHao in Baltimore, and Fairfax City’s Mama Chang and Lu Wei by Peter Zhang.

A second NiHao — which serves dim sum, Peking duck and “contemporary” takes on classic Szechuan dishes — is slated to open in Crystal City near Amazon’s second headquarters by early 2024.

Assuming that location opens first, the McLean restaurant could be the family’s 16th.