FOR STARTERS My family has always been in the restaurant business. We hail from Taiwan and my father was working as a chef there when I was born. We moved to Japan when I was 13, after my father got offered a job as a Chinese chef; my mother still lives in Yokohama. Several years later I came to America for college. I studied mathematics and computer science at the University of Missouri in Columbia. Both my brothers are good cooks. One was the chef at the first Chi Dynasty we opened, but he left 10 years ago because he didn't want to cook anymore. He now works in information technology for Japan Airlines, travelling all over the world. It wasn't easy to make that transformation and I admire him for doing that. My younger brother had a restaurant in Japan, but had to give it up when the economy went downhill. We're trying to bring him here as our executive chef. We're going to have at least three locations and we need someone to ensure the restaurants conform to the same standards.
TURNING THE TABLES I opened the first Chi Dynasty, in 1983, in Glendale [a suburb of Los Angeles]. I never had any formal training, but had various restaurant jobs throughout college: dishwasher, busboy, bartender. I think most people who go to college don't end up in the field they studied anyway. Whatever you do, college sharpens your mind, helps you think logically. It helped me with decision-making, watching budgets, operations. I wanted to create a restaurant that defied people's expectations of Chinese restaurants: that they were mom-and-pop operations, served cheap food and weren't well decorated or serviced. Back then, our waiters wore tuxedos. We did a lot of tableside cooking. It was family style but the dishes were served individually. In 1985, the landlord went bankrupt, the bank seized the property and we were forced out. We moved to Los Feliz but after another lease problem we moved to a space down the street about three years ago. It was a blessing in disguise: it was a smaller space and cost half the rent, but we do more business there than in the original location. It's funny how things work out. Over the years, trends changed and everything became more casual. People didn't want formal service anymore. We started attracting a younger crowd. The older people liked it, too - the atmosphere, the party-like feeling. We made adjustments when we saw what people wanted and it proved to be a successful concept.
EXPANDING HORIZONS One of my long-term customers is Mike Israyelyan [head of nightlife brand Muse Lifestyle Group]. Many people had asked me if I was interested in expanding, but I didn't want to do it just for the money. I knew Mike had a wealth of experience. He came to me with a big picture and that interested me. I'm getting older, I perhaps only have a few more years left in this business, and I wanted to do something for my children. So, with Mike, I opened our second location, in Studio City, last year. And, next month, we are opening at the Americana Mall in Glendale. Mike is looking at other potential spaces in Santa Monica, West Hollywood, Calabasas.
THE TASTE TEST I wanted to make Chi Dynasty stand out by using the best ingredients possible and by upgrading dishes and making them suitable to American tastes, focusing on colour and presentation. San Gabriel Valley is the heart of Chinese food in Los Angeles, but it's more specialised there. Here, we have a mix of Cantonese, Sichuanese, Shanghainese and other food from the mainland. We're famous for our Chinese chicken salad but I've never tried it because I'm not a salad eater. We toss it tableside, which keeps it nice and crispy. The decor is going to be the same in all our restaurants. I saw a picture of a red wall in an architecture magazine and I knew people would remember it and I was right: it's become our trademark. Our colour scheme of red and gold and black has a very Chinese feel, but we're able to keep a modern touch thanks to our open kitchen. The most important thing, however, is how you treat your customers. They should be seen as friends. Even though we are expanding, I am being careful not to lose this personal touch. Some of my waiters have been working for me for more than 20 years. I think clients appreciate that. It's comforting that it's the same guy, the same restaurant.
COMFORT FOOD Nothing beats Chinese food for variety and value, but everything has its trends. People only used to order egg foo yung, egg rolls, moo shoo pork - you even can't find some of these dishes in China. Now, many diners like sesame chicken, garlic shrimp noodles, lettuce cups with chopped chicken. Some fancy restaurants in Shanghai serve fusion cuisine, but I don't like it. Sure, it might look cute and people will perhaps order it once, but not again. For a while, there was a lot of fusion food in California. Trends come and go, and sometimes we see change for the sake of change. Now, people are going back to Italian food, to steakhouses, back to basics. The old things we have forgotten about are often still the best. Food should be what it is.