Michelle Mah is the director of operations for The Slanted Door Group in

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for "Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. She was previously the

chef de cuisine A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant A restaurant is a business that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are genera ...

at The Slanted Door, consulting chef at The Brixton, and

executive chef A chef de cuisine (, French for ''head of kitchen'') or head chef is a chef that leads and manages the kitchen and chefs of a restaurant or hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilitie ...

at Midi.

Early life

Michelle Mah was born in 1975

Seoul, Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 o ...

and moved with her family to

San Dimas, California San Dimas ( Spanish for " Saint Dismas") is a city in the San Gabriel Valley of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, its population was 34,924. It historically took its name from San Dimas Canyon in the San Gabri ...

at the age of three. Her mother, grandmother, and father all cooked at home. In 1997, she earned her B.A. in Ethnic Studies and a minor in General Literature from

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

Career

Mah's culinary experience began at Café Japengo in San Diego under chef Amiko Gubbins, who inspired her to enroll in the nearby College of Food, where she graduated with an associate degree in Occupational Studies. She continued her education at

California Culinary Academy The California Culinary Academy (CCA) was a for-profit school, and an affiliate of Le Cordon Bleu located in San Francisco, California. Danielle Carlisle established the school in 1977 to train chefs using the European education model. The origina ...

(CCA) in San Francisco. She stayed in San Francisco and worked at Moose's as a pantry cook and later completed her externship for CCA at Turtle Bay resort in

Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands Saint John ( da, Sankt Jan) is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. Saint John () is the smallest of the thre ...

. When she returned, she worked as a sous chef at Paul Arenstam's Belon and later at the Grand Café, where Arenstam was executive chef. When she was offered a position as executive chef at Kimpton's Ponzu, an upscale Asian restaurant, Arenstam was very supportive and assured her she was ready for the challenge, regardless of her fears. In 2005, she accepted the role and was named one of '' San Francisco Chronicle's'' "Rising Star Chefs" of 2006 along with Corey Lee of

French Laundry The French Laundry is a three-Michelin star French and Californian cuisine restaurant located in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. Sally Schmitt opened The French Laundry in 1978 and designed her menus around local, seasonal ingredien ...

and Mike Yakura of Le Colonial. Mah told ''

Nation's Restaurant News ''Nation's Restaurant News'' (''NRN'') is an American trade publication, founded in 1967, that covers the foodservice industry, including restaurants, restaurant chains, operations, marketing, and events. It was owned by Penton Media (acquired by ...

'' that she studied and researched different recipes before she felt comfortable developing her own vision for Ponzu which incorporated some Korean cuisine. The ''

Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It wa ...

'' described her approach to Asian cuisine as what she calls "Asia without a map." In 2008, she left Ponzu to join Joie de Vivre's new restaurant Midi in San Francisco's theatre district as executive chef. The ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young. The pap ...

'' wrote that Mah's recipes at the restaurant, this time based on

European cuisine European cuisine comprises the cuisines of Europe "European Cuisine." and in 2011 joined Charles Phan's Slanted Door Group to head up Wo Hing's General Store, a Southern Chinese street food-inspired restaurant. She transferred to Phan's The Slanted Door in 2012 and headed the kitchen as the chef de cuisine. In 2016, she transitioned into the role of Director of Operations. In 2016, she was part of an event in coordination with the Asian Art Museum when the " meat shaped stone" was on display. Chefs, including Mah, created unique pork-belly recipes inspired by the rock at their restaurants. She also reviews and recommends on dining app Chefsfeed.

Awards

* "Rising Star Chef" (2006) by the ''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mah, Michelle American chefs Living people Cuisine of the San Francisco Bay Area 1975 births People from the San Francisco Bay Area California Culinary Academy alumni University of California, San Diego alumni Women chefs South Korean chefs People from Seoul People from San Dimas, California Chefs from San Francisco