The normal state of affairs is a chef works hard. Comes up through the ranks. Get’s his or her own restaurant. And or talk show. Gets some fame, puts out a cookbook or two and opens some more restaurants. After all, it was a long road coming and you capitalize on your fame while you have it.

To my recall, only two celeb chefs have ever fought against this tried and true “way of the chef” when it comes to restaurants, and who have instead done things their own way. One is Cat Cora, who has zero, that’s zero, restaurants. And who finds both being a mother and working with the charity organization she cofounded: Chefs For Humanity and is a UNICEF spokesman, while also an Iron Chef as well as Executive Chef for Bon Appétit magazine.

The second one that comes to mind who is well known to shun the norm is Ming Tsai. Owner of his sole restaurant outside of Boston, Blue Ginger. For over 10 years now he’s turned down many many offers for more restaurants elsewhere. He’s finely giving in, albeit in a minor way. He’s finally opening a second restaurant …. next door to his current one.

Ok, don’t get excited. Turns out this actually isn’t as true as first thought. Turns out, the next door area is a sort of … hmmm, if it were a house you’d call it a spare bedroom, as it’s part of the Blue Ginger restaurant still, I guess you’d call it a “section”. Yes, let’s go with that, so not a second restaurant per se (gee Ming, what are you waiting for already?), but a 50-seater that will beature “Ming’s Bings”. What’s a bing? An Asian dumpling.

The new place will be his first restaurant spin-off, despite the offers he’s fielded continuously in the 10 years since Blue Ginger opened. But Tsai slyly suggested that Ming’s Bings might not be his last undertaking. He explained that the bings he’ll serve are light, healthful riffs on the simple Asian street foodknown as xian bing. Usually the potstickers are made with gingered pork. Tsai indicated that his array might include a burger that’s encased in a dumpling-style wrap and served in a box—“like White Castle,” but “with a thinner layer of carbohydrate around the protein.”

Check out the rest of the article here.

{17 Mar 2008}