San Francisco Campus to Host Owner / Executive Chef of The Slanted Door
The Culinary Department at The Art Institute of California—San
Francisco, a campus of Argosy University, is pleased to present Major
Conversations with Charles Phan on Tuesday, January 30, 2018, from
11:30AM-12:30PM in Room 411. All students, faculty, and staff are
invited to attend.
About Chef Charles Phan
Now Owner and Executive Chef of award-winning restaurant The Slanted
Door, Charles Phan was born in Da Lat, Vietnam in 1962 and later moved
to Guam and then to San Francisco in 1977. With both of his parents
working two jobs in the US, Charles took on cooking for the entire
family—ten people in total. Luckily, Charles had a passion for food and
was happy to take on the role of family chef. His personal flavor
profiles originated largely from his mother's French/Vietnamese cooking
style, although he was also charmed by American traditions and enjoyed
creating elaborate Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts.
Throughout high school, Charles bussed tables at local restaurants and
began taking notice of the avant-garde Bay Area restaurants of the time,
crediting Chez Panisse and Zuni Café as important culinary influences.
Following college, Charles took over the family garment business and
spent several years working in software before returning to the culinary
field and opening The Slanted Door with his family in 1995.
His vision for The Slanted Door was to create a restaurant with a
stylish ambiance and traditional, time-honored Vietnamese techniques and
recipes. He wanted an ingredient-driven menu that changed often and
relied on fresh, high-quality foods. This strategy—which strayed far
from all other Vietnamese restaurants in San Francisco at the time—led
to phenomenal success for the Slanted Door.
In 2004, Charles earned the James Beard Award for Best Chef California
and, in 2014, The Slanted Door won Outstanding Restaurant. Charles has
also written two award-winning cookbooks and made several television
appearances. He has since opened several other restaurants including Out
the Door, OTD, Hard Water, and Rice & Bones. Today, he remains on
the cutting edge of Vietnamese cuisine and continues to prepare
everything from scratch using farm-fresh, locally sourced products.
About Our Culinary Programs & Department
The diploma, associate’s
degree, and bachelor’s degree culinary programs offered through the
Culinary Department at The Art Institute of California—San Francisco are
designed to prepare students to pursue culinary careers in the areas
of:
● Baking & Pastry
● Culinary Arts
● Culinary Management
Within our culinary programs, students learn from experienced
instructors,* including many who remain active in culinary careers. All
instructors bring their real-world experiences into the culinary classes
they teach, where they act as mentors and guides to the culinary world.
Learn more by exploring our culinary programs today!
See aiprograms.info for program duration, tuition, fees and other costs, median debt, salary data, alumni success, and other important info.
*Credentials and experience levels vary by faculty and instructors.
