From rising culinary star Danny Bowien chef and cofounder of the tremendously popular Mission
Chinese Food restaurants comes an exuberant cookbook that tells the story of an unconventional
idea born in San Francisco that spread cross-country propelled by wildly inventive recipes
that have changed what it means to cook Chinese food in America
Mission Chinese Food is not
exactly a Chinese restaurant. It began its life as a pop-up: a restaurant nested within a divey
Americanized Chinese joint in San Francisco's Mission District. From the beginning a spirit of
resourcefulness and radical inventiveness has infused each and every dish at Mission Chinese
Food. Now hungry diners line up outside both the San Francisco and New York City locations
waiting hours for platters of Sizzling Cumin Lamb Thrice-Cooked Bacon Fiery Kung Pao Pastrami
and pungent Salt-Cod Fried Rice. The force behind the phenomenon chef Danny Bowien is at only
thirty-three the fastest-rising young chef in the United States. Born in Korea and adopted by
parents in Oklahoma he has a broad spectrum of influences. He's a veteran of fine-dining
kitchens sushi bars an international pesto competition and a grocery-store burger stand. In
2013 Food & Wine named him one of the country's Best New Chefs and the James Beard Foundation
awarded him its illustrious Rising Star Chef Award. In 2011 Bon Appétit named Mission Chinese
Food the second-best new restaurant in America and in 2012 the New York Times hailed the Lower
East Side outpost as the Best New Restaurant in New York City. The Mission Chinese Food
Cookbook tracks the fascinating meteoric rise of the restaurant and its chef. Each chapter in
the story?from the restaurant's early days to an ill-fated trip to China to the opening of
the first Mission Chinese in New York?unfolds as a conversation between Danny and his
collaborators and is accompanied by detailed recipes for the addictive dishes that have earned
the restaurant global praise. Mission Chinese's legions of fans as well as home cooks of all
levels will rethink what it means to cook Chinese food while getting a look into the
background and insights of one of the most creative young chefs today.
