Can a thin chef be a good chef? The answer is – YES! Long before David decided to quit his stable full-time job and devote himself fully to the restaurant biz, he had been cooking Taiwanese dishes for years. Many times he was asked, “Why don’t you open your own restaurant?” So after perfecting his dishes and building his reputation from his pop-up food events, David was ready to bring his restaurant dream to reality!

There is also another side of the story to be told about David.

David and his family emigrated from Mainland China during late 1980s to Dallas, Texas. His parents were among the early pioneers who introduced Chinese fast food in the mid 1990s. Their business nurtured a small part of the Ventura county for many years until their retirement in May 2016. As a child growing up in a family where both parents were busy working even during the weekends, David and his younger brother didn’t really have much chance to go to theme parks or movies with their parents. What they learned as youngsters was to not cause too many troubles for their parents. The boys studied hard, and eventually David graduated with a BA degree in Economy from UCLA. He tried to help out as much as he could at the restaurant during his high school and college years. He would have never thought he would go back to restaurant business after witnessing all the hard work his parents put in. The restaurant was open 7 days year round and the only holidays they would enjoy together as a family was Thanksgiving and Christmas. In fact, even his parents wanted David to pursue another path. For this reason, David was in corporate environments and other tech start-ups.

David always enjoys cooking during his down time. What is really unique is that he doesn’t cook his hometown style, but Taiwanese style! When David was growing up and going to school among Taiwanese immigrants, they would always hang out in little Taiwanese eateries to grab small bites and drinks after class. After his trip to Taiwan when he was an adult, David fell strongly in love with true Taiwanese street food and wanted to make it in his US home. The passion only grew when he saw there wasn’t really any Taiwanese food outside of San Gabriel Valley. After he visited some new concept restaurants in Silver Lake and Chinatown, he decided to try to introduce Taiwanese to more LA people.