Pioneering chef Charles Phan of Slanted Door dies at 62
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Charles Phan, founder and chef of The Slanted Door, passed away at the age of 62. Photo By Michael Macor/The San Francisco Chronicle via Getty Images
San Francisco chef Charles Phan, largely considered the inventor of modern Vietnamese cuisine in America, has died at 62.
Known in the Bay Area as the architect of the Slanted Door suite of restaurants, Phan died Monday night after suffering cardiac arrest, according to his family.
- The nationally acclaimed chef made San Francisco a top destination with trailblazing dishes like cellophane noodles with Dungeness crab, clay pot chicken and his signature shaking beef, made by tossing cubes of filet mignon with ingredients ranging from red onion to watercress and sour lime.
Catch up quick: Phan's family settled in Chinatown after fleeing the Vietnam War when he was 13. The oldest of six, he regularly made meals for his siblings, learning to cook Vietnamese food from his aunt and mother and Western food from watching TV.
- Though he initially studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, he decided to pursue cooking full time and launched the first Slanted Door in 1995 in the Mission District.
- The restaurant combined traditional Vietnamese cuisine with a more modern dining experience and would later expand to locations in San Ramon, Napa and Beaune, France.
The intrigue: Phan received the James Beard Award for Best Chef: California in 2004 and was inducted into the James Beard Foundation's Who's Who of Food in America in 2011.
- He also opened several other restaurant ventures, including the sandwich shop Chuck's Takeaway in the Mission, and wrote two cookbooks: "Vietnamese Home Cooking" and "The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food."
- Though his flagship Slanted Door restaurant moved locations over the years, he announced last August that he planned to reopen it in its original location this spring.
What they're saying: Phan was "our beloved leader, visionary, and friend" and "one of the most generous humans," his family and the Slanted Door Group said in an Instagram post.
- "While this was sudden and shocking to many of us, we will endure as the Slanted Door has for almost 30 years. The restaurants will continue to operate under the leadership of our management team as we navigate this transition."
- "For now, let's honor Charles' extraordinary life and legacy by keeping his spirit alive in the way we savor and share meals with one another — always family style," the post added.