Peking Gourmet Inn

Eddie Tsui and his wife started Peking Gourmet Inn in 1978. It's located in the nondescript Culmore shopping center in Falls Church and serves mostly northern Chinese food, including its politically-incorrect moniker, Peking duck. http://www.pekinggourmet.com/about.html

The Tsui family continues to run the 275-seat establishment and sources many of its vegetables from Robert Tsui's farm, Grass Root Farm, in Purcellville, VA. The restaurant does excel at cooking a crispy duck which is carved table-side. Some of the menu items are hit-or-miss, but I do love their pan-fried dumplings and the pan-fried seafood noodles.

silky egg-drop soup
mmmm
fiery chilies dressed in soy sauce
pan-fried Chinese leek dumplings

Peking duck, cucumber, scallions and hoisin sauce wraps. At $38 per duck, it's not exactly inexpensive, but the ducks are expertly carved tableside by experienced waiters. At a rough glance, I'd estimate the restaurant serves 500 ducks a day.

Massive platter of pan-fried noodles with seafood ($26). Snow crab, scallops, jumbo shrimp, bok choy, mushrooms, snap peas and toothsome noodles that taste handmade. This dish was large enough for two meals for us.

***

We normally over-order. This time we used a little more restraint than previous visits. We still left with a heavy bag of leftovers. Perhaps we venture to PGI at off-peak times, but we haven't had to wait extremely long for a table. The decor is definitely dated, and it can be a bit unsettling to dine surrounded by faces staring at you from framed and signed photos on the walls. While a particular favorite spot for the Bush family, that fact should neither encourage nor discourage a visit. If you venture there at peak dining hours, expect a long wait in a cramped entrance way.