Weekly Welcome

Keegan Fong is the Founder of Woon, serving “homestyle Chinese food” in Los Angeles inspired by recipes from “Mama Fong.” It’s a gateway restaurant for those that have both enjoyed Chinese food growing up and for those desiring to explore in depth about Chinese cuisine. Keegan has created a comfortably modern environment minus the stuffiness plus the friendliness to serve his favorite childhood dishes.

Hosted + produced by Arnold Byun. Cover art illustration by Seohui Chi. Photography by Calvin Khurniawan. Follow us on Instagram @withwarmwelcome or visit our website, withwarmwelcome.com.

Lydia is the Co-Owner of Steep in LA’s Chinatown. We converse on her concept and definition of a “modern tea room,” how they approach tea ceremonies, her trips to China to source directly, the sensation of being tea drunk, and navigating her business through COVID-19.

Jing Gao is the Founder and CEO of Fly By Jing. Gao was born in Chengdu, identifying as Chinese Canadian, has lived in and hopped around a number of countries, and now calls Los Angeles her home.   We discuss Gao's reclamation of her birth name, her culinary journey throughout Asia working at P&G and Blackberry, writing for international food publications while exploring Chinese cuisine more deeply, to filming Eddie Huang's Fresh Off the Boat and Bizzare Foods with Andrew Zimmerman. Her a-ha moment finally presented itself at a natural food expo which led to the creation of her dream CPG company. With Fly By Jing, she continues unapologetically turn biases on its head, driving exposure and understanding of the depth and breadth of Chinese cuisine and culture.

Jenny Dorsey is a bi-coastal chef, food writer, speaker, and social entrepreneur. Dorsey owns Studio ATAO, a nonprofit community think tank that creates content and experiences at the intersection of food, art and social impact. She started her career as a management consultant in the fashion industry but discovered her true calling in culinary arts after taking a sabbatical to explore food interests. We dig into her backstory and discuss topics like the need to exercise creative muscle, hospitality being based off of a slave labor society, white and asian fragility, changing the food narrative, and much more.

David Kuo is Chef/Owner of Little Fatty, a Taiwanese soul food restaurant located in Mar Vista, California. A California native whose passion for cooking and food was influenced by his family's traditional cooking as well as watching Food Network & Iron Chef growing up. Kuo spent some time in real estate before following his dream of owning a restaurant, but it didn't come easy; as he refers to it as the school of hard knocks. Through these experiences he was able to glean insights into successfully running a restaurant business among other food related ventures.

Ryan Wong is Chef/Owner of Needle, a Cantonese restaurant in Silver Lake, California. He’s got a chef’s conviction to carry on his Hong Kong heritage. Formerly a substitute teacher moonlighting as a guitarist in a rock-alt band, to washing dishes at a Sheraton Hotel, to finally cooking food he has connections to.

Keizo Shimamoto is living the ramen dream — from the first Tokyo-style shoyu ramen as a picky eater, trying over 600 bowls of ramen in a year while running his ramen blog, to becoming a first-time business owner with a viral food sensation that was the ramen burger. Keizo's had quite a career; he's paid his dues in the original Ivan Ramen and Bassanova in Tokyo. We document his ups and downs; highs and lows, as he makes a hard decision this year to shut his businesses in NYC and relocate back home to California, where he grew up.

A story of how two Asian-American friends who sat in the back of their Calculus class birthed the idea of an Asian-American craft hard seltzer and launched in the middle of a global pandemic. Lunar is the first and only Asian-American craft hard seltzer. Born and raised in NYC, their seltzers are made from premium, authentic Asian ingredients sourced from the motherland. They've taken the fruits most emblematic of their childhood - trips back to Asia, their parents cutting fruit for us while we do homework, and even their “lunchbox moments” - and crafted unique recipes to unapologetically celebrate those experiences of Asian-Americana.  Each can is filtered multiple times for each flavor—all real, natural ingredients—to shine its brightest. More info at www.drinklunar.com or follow on Instagram @drinklunar.

Matthew runs all business-related matters at Sey Coffee, a specialty coffee roaster based out in Brooklyn. Originally a dentist, Matthew has developed a newfound passion for coffee and has paved his own path in becoming involved in the most talked about coffee roasteries in the US.

Alice is a Korean-American producing her own makgeolli in her very own brewery out in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. We touch exclusively on how she’s cultivated such an interest and admiration for makgeolli and how right now is the perfect time to introduce the beverage. Website: https://www.hanamakgeolli.com

Carol Pak is the founder of Makku, dubbed “America’s first craft makgeolli.” Makgeolli is the lesser-known alcoholic choice in comparison to the widely popular soju. However, it is considered Korea’s oldest. Carol decided to take this old-school beverage and bring it to market for a modern audience.

Sandro is a Queens-born Filipino-American who has started Sanzo: a new kind of sparkling water offering that celebrates Asian flavors. We speak on his unique journey that’s lead him to work on his dream of filling grocery shelves with a product that best represents him and his community.

Kevin Liang grew up in the family grocery business in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Now, he oversees Southeast Asia Food Group (SAFG) that calls some of the chefs we’ve had as clients. With the pandemic, Kevin has pivoted from serving restaurants to now also offering hard to find Asian products for the general public. 

Claire is a Filipino-American bar owner of Hunky Dory in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Named after the name of a David Bowie album (one of her favorites), Hunky Dory is not your typical bar with brightly painted walls and lots of lights throughout the space. Originally, an all-day cocktail bar, coffee shop, and restaurant; Claire explains to us how she’s pivoted and indefinitely decided against returning for indoor dining.

Elizabeth Yee is the owner of Tonii's Fresh Rice Noodle in Manhattan's Chinatown. We sat down with Elizabeth to share her family's origin story and connections to Chinatown as well as the importance of family legacy. From Send Chinatown Love: "Opened in October 2019, Tonii’s specializes in the Cantonese dim sum classic cheung-fun, otherwise known as rice noodle rolls. The small eatery on Bayard Street offers a wide variety of Hong Kong-style breakfast foods that make for a quintessential element of the Chinatown experience." Join the Send Chinatown Love Food Crawl, more information available at: https://www.sendchinatownlove.com/food-crawl.html.

Alice Liu's family runs Grand Tea & Imports. From SCL "Since 2006, ‘Grand Tea Imports’ has been a Chinatown staple for folks looking for unique tea blends, spiritual goods, and niche Chinese cultural items. Whether you have questions about Buddhist symbolism or curious on Chinese teas and their provenance, Alice and her family have all the answers." More information about Send Chinatown Love is available at: https://www.sendchinatownlove.com.

Ling Song is the Seller Empathy Lead at Send Chinatown Love (SCL), an organization that provides an online platform to low-tech, cash-only, Asian-owned small businesses that have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19.  Ling's family business, New Win, is also the second merchant that SCL onboarded to their online platform. In this episode, Ling explains to use how SCL came to be, how the mission has evolved and developed overtime, and the importance of supporting and safeguarding Chinatown.  

Hannah Wong is the Chef & Owner of Haema, an upcoming Asian street-food inspired restaurant in Brooklyn. Previously, she was the Executive Chef at Van Da, a modern Vietnamese restaurant in the East Village with a Michelin Bib nod. We chronicle her culinary journey from academic publishing to professional cooking. We converse on rethinking, reimagining, and repurposing restaurants as community-based third spaces rather than a traditional restaurant model. How do we radically restructure the power dynamics within a restaurant setting to redistribute resources back to the community while offering an equitable work environment for restaurant professionals? 

Eric Huang is a former Sous Chef at Eleven Madison Park who is setting out to create and open his own restaurant, Anzhu. Drawing from his experience in fine-dining kitchens in NYC (Cafe Boulud, Gramercy Tavern), Anzhu will be Eric's take on reintroducing Chinese-American cuisine. We tackle topics such as cultural appropriation in food, the perception of Chinese cuisine in America, the lack of representation in kitchens, and changing the conversation about "cheap" takeout and MSG. We chronicle the humbling full circle of Eric's experience of growing up in the family restaurant to now filling in as its dim sum chef due to COVID-19. 

Ben Hon is the creator behind @StuffBenEats on Instagram. On the regular, you'll see him featured on various lists on food media as a must-follow account for foodies. We speak about the negative connotation around the term "food influencer" and how he uses his platform in hopes to feature and capture more than just a snapshot of a dish. Ben's ties and experience growing up firsthand in a restaurant family has enabled him to connect and cultivate meaningful and lasting relationships with restaurant owners and Chefs around the city. 

Linus Kim is the Chef-Owner of Linus BBQ in Seoul, South Korea. He's an acclaimed pitmaster and runs easily the most accomplished and tastiest American-style barbecue joint in all of Korea. He also happens to call Itaewon, home. Itaewon is a foreign-friendly neighborhood in Korea with a progressive and LGBTQ-friendly nightlife. While Korea has certainly gotten ahead of managing the pandemic; there's another story we hope to tell and capture with Linus in the fold. He shares his respective struggles running a restaurant during the pandemic as well as his outlook on the future of dining in Korea.

Helen is the Chef-Owner of Saigon Social on the Lower East Side in NYC. A concept in the making for well over a year; Helen had initially set an official opening date that coincided with "New York on Pause" -- a city-wide mandate that required all restaurants to indefinitely close in response to COVID-19. We share Helen's journey from a career in real estate in Seattle to pursuing her passion for cooking via culinary school in the city. Her first professional kitchen experience at Restaurant Daniel and the boom of a new-wave of modern Vietnamese restaurants inspired the birth of Saigon Social. 

Jenn’s Thai-American identity paired with an extensive experience within the industry has led to the critical and commercial success of contemporary “pad thai free zone” Thai restaurant, Fish Cheeks. 

Peter Tondreau is a 10-year restaurant vet who has successfully made his imprint in NYC operating concepts within food halls and markets. The Korean-adoptee grew up in California, actively engaged in sports. Eventually, his passion and interest lead to a pursuit in career in professional ice hockey. An unfortunate accident soon derailed his pursuit; however, his lifelong love for food and cooking opened a new chapter into the culinary arts. Peter found himself full circle back in California, cooking at then 2-Michelin starred Wolfgang Puck's legendary Spago in Beverly Hills. A best friend's invite to a New Years' Party in NYC was enough to attract Peter to relocating to the East Coast, where he opened up his very first concept Bar Suzette with the same friend that had convinced the move. A successful run at Bar Suzette has since then birthed numerous and various concepts for Peter who runs with a collaborative philosophy in running restaurants. 

Sarah Lee is the Co-Owner of Kimbap Lab, located in Whole Foods Williamsburg in Brooklyn. Kimbap Lab features its namesake kimbap, a Korean dish made from cooked rice and other ingredients rolled in kim, or otherwise known as dried nori seaweed. Sarah takes this traditional dish and applies a modern approach featuring a gluten-free menu and locally sourced ingredients. Sarah’s experiences range from catering to managing restaurants to marketing a Korean celebrity chef. She ultimately brought her favorite Korean comfort food, kimbap, stateside with a spin offering sauces and pickles. 

Erika Chou is a Managing Partner of Rivers and Hills Hospitality Group, which owns and operates multiple restaurant concepts such as Yunnan Kitchen, Northern Tiger, Kodawari, Wayla, and Little Wayla. Growing up in North Carolina, Erika found herself in various unfortunate scenarios where she was made insecure about her Asian-American identity and culture. So much so that even her school teacher had made a comment about her Chinese-cooked lunches she would bring from home. A mid-career change from fashion production to restaurant creation has brought Erika much success in the field having had experience in both full-service and fast-casual restaurants. We talk about her journey but also how she is adapting to the new landscape with Phase 2 in NYC underway.

Dennis Ngo is the Chef and Co-Owner of Di An Di, a modern Vietnamese restaurant that's quickly become a neighborhood staple in Greenpoint, Brooklyn since opening in May 2018. Dennis is a second generation Vietnamese-American and Texan-native who found himself in New York via a consulting career and fell in love with the restaurant scene. In the early 2000's, Vietnamese cuisine was still relatively unknown. Dennis saw an opportunity to join this movement and decided to take upon a role as a dishwasher to get his feet wet. Fast forward to now, after a successful opening with Di An Di; Dennis shares his creative initiatives and outlook on an industry that he's come to love and what it may look like during these times with COVID-19.

Brooklyn born and bred, Calvin Eng is the Chef de Cuisine at Win Son. Win Son is a Taiwanese-American restaurant in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Calvin's first encounter with food occurred in the family kitchen and soon working at a neighborhood deli. An abundance of Chinese cooking at home led to an initial disinterest drift from his Cantonese heritage, only to arrive at a newfound appreciation for his heritage and culture. We share Calvin's insights and experiences leading up to his current position via his time in culinary school at Johnson & Wales, being one of the first Sous Chef hires at fast-casual chain Dig Inn, and opening up a quick-service outpost of a legendary dim sum parlor, Nom Wah Nolita with Wilson Tang. 

Steve Wong is a Partner and the Director of Operations for Oxalis, an affordable, accessible, and approachable neighborhood bistro with a Michelin star just steps away from Brooklyn Museum and Prospect Park. Steve's childhood in the Bay Area involved early opening shifts at coffee shops, light Forbes article reading, and eventually a career in the world of worker cooperatives. However, hospitality always played a part for Steve, and not long after, he reunited with his high school friend, Chef Nico Russell (Daniel, Mirazur) and beverage director Piper Kristensen (Booker and Dax) to run Oxalis as a successful pop-up, selling out 50 events in a span of two years. It now faces a new challenge ahead in response to COVID-19 in the form of a pantry box, appropriately named 'Boxalis.' 

Jae Lee isn't shy to let you know where he's from, where he's been, and who he represents. Jae Lee is Chef-Owner of Nowon, serving nontraditional Korean fare in the East Village. Formerly, he worked for heavyweight chefs such as Masaharu Morimoto and Dale Talde. From a ramen line cook in his college days to picking up the late Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential to opening Executive Chef at Momosan, Jae’s journey is cemented in hustle and hard work. Eventually, he struck out on his own via his pop-up concept Him, which featured a kimchi burger that spawned a media frenzy. In an unusual and unprecedented manner in a notoriously slow-to-open industry, Jae opened the doors to Nowon in a matter of simply two months from signing the lease.

Not many Chefs in the restaurant industry can claim to have been a competitive poker player, work retail at Louis Vuitton, and start an English school in China. Simone Tong is a force of nature and someone with a track record that just makes it happen. A few fateful encounters translating English for her mom's restaurant and an episode of After Hours with Daniel Boulud piqued a curiosity for the culinary arts. Now, she is the Chef and Co-Owner of Little Tong, a noodle shop inspired by the province of Yunnan. Now open in 3 locations across Manhattan, NY.

Ellia Park is the Co-Owner of Atoboy and Atomix. Both restaurants are in partnership with her husband and business partner, Chef Junghyun Park. Atoboy since opening has retained its Michelin Bib Gourmand nod while their newest venture Atomix has been elevated to 2 Michelin Stars in the 2020 Michelin Guide. Ellia shares her early beginnings in Korea, being raised by a loving grandma who would pack her lunch everyday to eventually fulfilling the couple's dream to open a restaurant that brought Korean cuisine into the international stage.

Esther Choi is the Chef-Owner of Mokbar & Ms. Yoo. Growing up in rural New Jersey, Esther spent her childhood following her Korean grandmother around, who was a fixture in her community and known for her cooking. That is not to say, she was fearlessly independent and entrepreneurial early on, selling candy as a young teen to her friends and working in the hospitality business throughout her early adulthood. Soon enough, a pharmacy degree in Rutgers turned into a degree in psychology to a stint at Food Network to having her very own food hall in the coveted Chelsea Market.

Jenny Kwak is the Chef-Owner of Haenyeo, a neighborhood Korean restaurant in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Prior to Haenyeo, which is an homage to the tenacious female divers off of Korea's Jeju Island; Jenny and her mom, Myung Ja, had operated Dok Suni in the East Village in the 90's and Do Hwa in the West Village in the early 2000's. Having been in the business of educating guests of Korean cuisine and culture in NYC for over two decades, Jenny documents her journey to opening her first solo venture with her husband and partner, Terrence. 

Ochi Latjuba is the Co-Owner of Wayan, a restaurant done in partnership with her husband Cedric Vongerichten. Wayan offers Indonesian cuisine with a modern French flair. Wayan is named after its meaning in Indonesian, a name given for the first-born. After all, it is the couple's first solo project in NYC after opening eateries in Jakarta. Ochi grew up in Indonesia; where her mother ran a catering business. Later on, she went onto studying at CIA and attaining experiences at Daniel Boulud's Feast and Fetes and Thomas Keller's Per Se.