Asian-American chefs mixing it up

Corey Lee of Benu

FOOD is part of one's culture. It helps define us as we were, who we are and what we will become.

Asian cuisine in America has grown leaps and bounds beyond the ever-present and much abused and much beloved family-owned Chinese restaurants all of America has grown up with - with varying degrees of quality.

Everyone is familiar with the TV personality chefs like Martin Yan, David Chang, Masaharu Morimoto and Ming Tsai, but there is a whole phalanx of excellent Asian chefs better known in their regions than on the tube.

Among these is Corey Lee, chef/owner of Benu, one of San Francisco's top restaurants. He recently was awarded three Michelin stars. That's equivalent to being named the Madison Bumgarner of the kitchen. Read about Corey Lee here. His menu is influenced by Lee's Korean roots.

Asian-American chefs are not just sticking to their own cuisines like Nicole Fonseca of New York's Maharlika or Charles Phan of San Francisco's Slanted Door, they are also combining their family recipes with western cooking techniques, fusing with other cuisines and taking advantage of local ingredients, creating whole new dishes. Who would have thought of wrapping Filipino favorite sigsig in a tortilla, like the wildly popular San Francisco Bay Area food truck Captain Sigsig? 

Lee got the coveted Michelin stars, but he's just the crest of a wave of young Asian-American chefs  eager to introduce the food they grew up with - and their culture - to American palates.