Lisa Chang

A native of Wuhan—the capital of Hubei Province, China—Lisa Chang is a celebrated chef with over four decades of culinary experience cooking in notable hotels, restaurants, cruise ships, embassies, and especially at home for her beloved family and friends. In addition to being extremely skilled in both sweet and savory pastries, Lisa is also a master of cooking home-style Chinese cuisine—many dishes and recipes rich with family heritage and history. She is also the proud matriarch of the Chang family and a longtime secret weapon for the Chang family’s restaurant empire.

Lisa began to realize her passion in the culinary arts in China as the third of six children often cooking meals for the entire family at the young age of ten. Following high school Lisa began working at a hotel restaurant where she quickly became interested in learning about pastries and it was there and then that she began to develop and perfect her skills in making breads, dumplings, noodles, sweet and savory pastries, breads, and more.

In 1983, Lisa secured a position working on a popular river cruise boat, which eventually led her to pursuing and obtaining her professional certification as a pastry chef in 1985. Through her hard work and fierce determination, Lisa quickly found herself ranked as a top ten pastry chef in Hubei. In 1984 Lisa met Peter while working as his superior on a river cruise ship on the Yangtze River. The couple quickly fell in love bonding over their mutual love for the culinary arts and married in 1987. Their daughter Lydia was born in 1988 and both Lisa and Peter spent the next decade working hard in some of the most respected kitchens throughout China until 2001 when the family decided to accept a prestigious offer to cook as a duo at the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C.

Following the Chang family’s departure from the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC, the dynamic duo with young daughter Lydia in tow began their journey of carefully promoting Peter as a featured guest chef at various Chinese restaurants beginning with China Star in Fairfax, Virginia in 2003. Peter continued to frequently shuffle around as an executive chef at a number of Chinese restaurants located throughout Virginia, Georgia, and Tennessee—but always with Lisa by his side in the kitchen. Lisa and Peter eventually opened the first Peter Chang together in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2011.

2017年,寻求进一步增加Chang family’s growing portfolio, the family decided to open Q by Peter Chang in Bethesda, MD with the purpose of having this original restaurant serve as Peter’s flagship. With Q by Peter Chang, Peter was eager to continue to educate diners and share more about Chinese cuisine.

Finally the time to share Lisa as the secret weapon behind the Chang’s restaurant empire arrived with the creation of a completely new culinary concept —Mama Chang. Mama Chang opened in Fairfax City, Virginia in March 2019 celebrating authentic home-style Chinese recipes and dishes while paying homage to all of the significant culinary contributions from the Chang women including Peter’s mother Ronger Wang, Lisa, and daughter Lydia. Mama Chang’s buzzy and much anticipated opening attracted long lines and immediate rave reviews including a glowing 3 star review fromThe Washington Post, as well as claiming the number one spot onThe Washington Post’shigh-profile 2019 Spring Dining Guide. With Lisa no longer a secret, the Chang family looks forward to celebrating her as much as possible now and moving forward in connection with all of their culinary enterprises.

The Chang family currently owns and operates 10 restaurants in Maryland, Virginia, and Connecticut with additional projects already in the works.