Ming Hao Tsai (; born March 29, 1964) is an American restaurateur,

television personality Celebrity is a condition of fame and broad public recognition of a person or group as a result of the attention given to them by mass media. An individual may attain a celebrity status from having great wealth, their participation in sports ...

, and

celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...

. Tsai's restaurants have focused on east–west

fusion cuisine Fusion cuisine is cuisine that combines elements of different culinary traditions that originate from different countries, regions, or cultures. They can occur naturally and become aspects of culturally relevant cuisines, or they can be part of ...

, and have included major stakes in Blue Ginger in

Wellesley, Massachusetts Wellesley () is a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Wellesley is part of Greater Boston. The population was 29,550 at the time of the 2020 census. Wellesley College, Babson College, and a campus of Massachusetts Bay Communit ...

Zagat The ''Zagat Survey'', commonly referred to as Zagat (stylized in all caps; , ) and established by Tim and Nina Zagat in 1979, is an organization which collects and correlates the ratings of restaurants by diners. For their first guide, coverin ...

- and

James Beard James Andrews Beard (May 5, 1903 – January 23, 1985) was an American chef, cookbook author, teacher and television personality. He pioneered television cooking shows, taught at The James Beard Cooking School in New York City and Seaside, ...

-recognized establishment) from 1998 to 2017, and Blue Dragon in the

Fort Point Channel Fort Point Channel is a maritime channel separating South Boston from downtown Boston, Massachusetts, feeding into Boston Harbor. The south part of it has been gradually filled in for use by the South Bay rail yard and several highways (specif ...

area of

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

(a Zagat-recognized tapas-style gastropub named in ''

Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

'' "Best New Restaurants 2013"). Tsai hosts ''Simply Ming'', a cooking show featured on

American Public Television American Public Television (APT) is an American nonprofit organization and syndicator of programming for public television stations in the United States. It distributes public television programs nationwide for PBS member stations and indepe ...

, in its seventeenth season. Past shows Tsai hosted include ''Ming's Quest'', a cooking show featured on the

Fine Living Network Fine Living (Sometimes called Fine Living Network or FLN) was a European television channel, initially owned and operated by Scripps Networks Interactive and later by Discovery Inc., from 2018 onwards. It broadcast from to . It featured documenta ...

, and ''East Meets West''. Tsai appeared in the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

cooking competition ''

The Next Iron Chef ''The Next Iron Chef'' is a limited-run series on the Food Network that aired its fifth season in 2012. Each season is a stand-alone competition to select a chef to be designated an Iron Chef, who will appear on the Food Network program ''Iron ...

'' (2010).

Early life and education

Clayton was born, in Newport Beach, California, United States on March 29, 1964, to Iris (née Lee), who owned a Chinese restaurant, and , an engineer, and was raised in

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater D ...

, where he attended

The Miami Valley School The Miami Valley School (MVS) is an independent school for grades Pre-K through 12, located in Dayton, Ohio, founded in 1964. The Miami Valley School is a non-profit organization. The Miami Valley School uses the Immersion Method, a philosophy ba ...

. Tsai's maternal grandparents later emigrated to Dayton from Taiwan after escaping China during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC) launched by Mao Zedong in 1966, and lasting until his death in 1976. Its stated goa ...

. He assisted with the cooking as he was growing up in the restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen, owned by his mother. Tsai is a

grandson Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

of Chinese composer Lee Pao-Chen and

uncle An uncle is usually defined as a male relative who is a sibling of a parent or married to a sibling of a parent. Uncles who are related by birth are second-degree relatives. The female counterpart of an uncle is an aunt, and the reciprocal rela ...

Lauren Tsai Lauren Tsai (born February 11, 1998), is an American visual artist, model, and actress. She is best known to audiences for her appearance in the Fuji TV and Netflix series '' Terrace House: Aloha State''. She made her acting debut in the third an ...

. Tsai later attended Phillips Academy in

Andover, Massachusetts Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and incorporated in 1646."Andover" in ''The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th ed., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387. As of th ...

, and then proceeded to study engineering and play varsity

squash Squash may refer to: Sports * Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets * Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling * Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...

at Yale University. There, he was a member of the Phi chapter of the

Delta Kappa Epsilon Delta Kappa Epsilon (), commonly known as ''DKE'' or ''Deke'', is one of the oldest fraternities in the United States, with fifty-six active chapters and five active colonies across North America. It was founded at Yale College in 1844 by fiftee ...

fraternity, and graduated with a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and mathematics principles with materials science, to design, analyze, manufacture, an ...

in 1986. He received a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

hotel administration A hotel manager, hotelier, or lodging manager is a person who manages the operation of a hotel, motel, resort, or other lodging-related establishment. Management of a hotel operation includes, but is not limited to management of hotel staff, ...

and hospitality marketing from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in 1989. Either the summer after his sophomore or junior year at Yale, he attended culinary school at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Tsai speaks four languages:

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

, French, and

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Career

Television

Tsai began his television career on chef

Sara Moulton Sara Moulton (born February 19, 1952) is an American cookbook author and television personality. In an article for ''The New York Times'', Kim Severson described Moulton as "one of the nation’s most enduring recipe writers and cooking teac ...

's cooking show ''Cooking Live'' while she had him fill in for one week for her in 1997. He hosted '' East Meets West'' on the Food Network from 1998 to 2003. He hosts ''Simply Ming'', a food show on PBS. In 2005, he was a judge on the PBS show '' Cooking Under Fire''. Ming Tsai challenged Iron Chef Bobby Flay in the sixth episode of season one of ''Iron Chef America'' in 2005; Tsai defeated Flay. Tsai was a contestant in ''

'' in 2010, where he was eliminated in the seventh week. Tsai appeared on an episode of ''

Top Chef ''Top Chef'' is an American reality competition television series which premiered on Bravo on March 8, 2006. The show features chefs competing against each other in culinary challenges. The contestants are judged by a panel of professional ch ...

'' in 2014. His other television appearances include participation in a Zoom Out on ''

Zoom Zoom may refer to: Technology Computing * Zoom (software), videoconferencing application * Page zooming, the ability to magnify or shrink a portion of a page on a computer display * Zooming user interface, a graphical interface allowing for image ...

'', a show distributed by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, in 2005 and on the PBS children's television show ''

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. Another theory, more wi ...

'' episode in 2006.

Restaurants

In 1998, Tsai and Polly Talbott opened his first restaurant, Blue Ginger, in

. Blue Ginger, an Asian Fusion restaurant, has become a

and

-recognized establishment, winning many other regional awards as well. The year that the restaurant opened, Tsai was named "Chef of the Year" by ''

''. On March 30, 2010 Tsai opened Blue Ginger Noodle Bar, a mini-restaurant, inside Blue Ginger. In June 2017, Tsai closed Blue Ginger after 19 years of business. The reason was due to the end of a

lease A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the user (referred to as the ''lessee'') to pay the owner (referred to as the ''lessor'') for the use of an asset. Property, buildings and vehicles are common assets that are leased. Industrial ...

and Tsai's focus on a new fast-casual stir-fry concept restaurant, ChowStirs, scheduled to open in Boston during the early part of 2018. Tsai opened Blue Dragon in 2013 in the

area of

, an east–west tapas-style gastropub that has become a Zagat's recognized restaurant, which was named an ''

'' "Best New Restaurant" in its opening year. In 2020, Tsai opened BāBā at the Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana as chef and partner.

Cookbook author

Tsai is the author of five cookbooks: ''Blue Ginger'', ''Simply Ming'', ''Ming's Master Recipes'', ''Simply Ming: One-Pot Meals'', and ''Simply Ming in Your Kitchen''.

Awards and recognition

Tsai won the

Daytime Emmy The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (N ...

award in 1999, in the category Outstanding Service Show Host. Tsai's Blue Ginger Restaurant was inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2000, Ming was on the 50 Most Beautiful People list published by ''

People A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of prope ...

'' magazine.

Personal life

Tsai and Polly Talbott have been married since April 1996. They have two sons, David and Henry. David Talbott, Tsai's squash coach at Yale, and

Mark Talbott Mark Talbott is an Americans, American squash coach and former professional squash (sport), squash player. He is known as one of the all-time great players of hardball squash. Talbott was inducted into the United States Squash Hall of Fame in 20 ...

, a former World No. 1

hardball squash Hardball squash is a format of the indoor racquet sport squash which was first developed in North America in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It is sometimes referred to as being the "American version" of the sport. Compared to the "Br ...

player, are Tsai's brothers-in-law. His niece is

. According to

Henry Louis Gates Henry Louis "Skip" Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker, who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and Director of the Hutchins Center for African and African Amer ...

's PBS program '' Finding Your Roots'', Tsai is a 116th-generation descendant of

Qin Shi Huang Qin Shi Huang (, ; 259–210 BC) was the founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China. Rather than maintain the title of " king" ( ''wáng'') borne by the previous Shang and Zhou rulers, he ruled as the First Empero ...

(259 BC – 210 BC), founder of the Qin dynasty and the first emperor of a unified China.

Sports

Tsai was a

player at

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

, playing number two for the team, and he was named as an All-Ivy League player in 1986. While attending culinary school in France, Tsai played professionally on the European circuit. In 2004, Tsai played a celebrity squash match against professional golfer

Brad Faxon Bradford John Faxon Jr. (born August 1, 1961) is an American professional golfer. He has won eight times on the PGA Tour. Early years and amateur career Faxon was born in Oceanport, New Jersey and raised in Barrington, Rhode Island. He attended Fu ...

at a Boston squash club. In 2005, he played against Mark Talbott in a charity match at a squash club in San Francisco.

Philanthropy

One of Tsai's sons has food allergies, and Tsai has become a food allergy advocate who promotes awareness of food allergens. Since 2005, he has been a national spokesman for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) and in December 2012 was awarded a lifetime achievement award for his advocacy work from the organization, including his work on the state of Massachusetts food safety bill. Tsai was heavily featured on Season 1, Episode 5 of Netflix’s “Rotten” discussing his thoughts and observations on the restaurant industry; specifically about food-allergic individuals being able to dine out safely. Tsai is currently the President of the National Advisory Board for Family Reach, an organization that provides a financial lifeline to families fighting cancer.

References

External links

Official website

''Simply Ming'' website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsai, Ming 1964 births Living people American people of Chinese descent American restaurateurs American male squash players Yale Bulldogs men's squash players American television chefs American male chefs Cornell University School of Hotel Administration alumni Daytime Emmy Award winners Food Network chefs PBS people Businesspeople from Dayton, Ohio People from Newport Beach, California Phillips Academy alumni Yale School of Engineering & Applied Science alumni Alumni of Le Cordon Bleu Members of Committee of 100 James Beard Foundation Award winners Asian American chefs