Number One Chinese Restaurant

Bookseller recommendation

“Growing up in a small town in the ’60s, my first experience of Chinese food served tableside in a grand manner was on our annual vacation to visit family. The Empress restaurant—near the White House!—boasted about its Peking duck, just like the suburban D.C. Duck House in Number One Chinese Restaurant. The Duck House connects three generations of a restaurant dynasty and three star-crossed pairs of lovers, who are about to find out that, like a good stir fry, timing is everything. This is a masterful debut. I came for the fun Chinese restaurant setting, but I stayed for the characters.  ”

— Carla Bayha • Literati Bookstore