Happy Monday!
Today, we’re checking in with Top Chef Season 3 winner Hung Huynh. Though he wasn’t the fan favorite, the Vietnamese-born Massachuetts raised Huynh cooked his way to the top in Miami and Aspen.
Prior to Top Chef, Huynh built an impressive resume, obtaining a degree from the Culinary Institute of America, and spending time working at Per Se in New York. Before he was tapped for Top Chef, he was working at Guy Savoy’s restaurant in Las Vegas.
Post win, Huynh spent some time hopping around the restaurant scene, mainly in New York. He worked at Solo, which was a high-end Kosher restaurant in Manhattan, though it has since closed. He also spent time as the executive chef at Anja Bar (also now closed).
Huynh then teamed up with EMM Group, best known for Catch, which has locations in both New York City and Dubai. He helped them to open Catch and The General, which closed a little more than a year after opening. For the Meatpacking District monstrosity that it is, Catch’s food is surprisingly good, but it’s not exactly authentic. It’s “Asian Fusion,” and everything is big, smothered in sauce, and a lot of it is deep fried. In February or 2015, Huynh announced that he was cutting ties with EMM Group, an interesting but not altogether surprising choice. Catch is successful and is continuing to grow, but Huynh said that EMM group “wanted to go a different direction,” and he didn’t feel that he could be the authentic chef he wanted with them.
What’s next? Huynh hasn’t announced anything officially, but it seems he wants to get into the fast-casual space (who doesn’t, these days?) and open a spot that serves simpler, more authentic, healthy food. Seems like the right move. We’re looking forward to seeing what he makes of it!
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