Richard Chen

Expert Interview: Richard Chen

Behind the Chef

What were your favorite foods growing up?
Authentic Taiwanese cuisine

When did you decide you wanted to be a chef?
When I was in high school

Where and when did your career in food begin?
It began when I was 7 years old. My family owned a restaurant in Taiwan.

If you didn't become a chef, what would you be?
Ceramics sculptor

Who/what has shaped your cooking the most over the years?
Sarah Stegner, Ritz-Carlton Chicago, and Charlie Trotter.

What are your favorite culinary weapons in the kitchen?
Very sharp knives

What influences your cooking style and particularly the menu at Wing Lei?
All of the ingredients must be fresh. Specialty seafood must also be live.

What is your favorite secret ingredient?
Truffles and truffle oil. These two ingredients add another dimension to Asian cooking.

What is the one rule or value you try to instill in all of your staff?
Take pride and enjoy what you do daily.

If I'm trying to watch my weight and I'm eating at your restaurant, what am I ordering to eat?
Steamed fresh fish (very light)

What was the most challenging meal you had to make? Why?
Abalone ---The process takes almost four days because you want to make sure its texture, flavor and size all come together.

What was your worst restaurant disaster?
One Christmas Eve, one of the cooks placed a pot of oil on the stove and walked away. It caught fire one hour before opening. Luckily, we were able to put out the flames. We had to throw everything in the kitchen out, re-prep all food and set up for business in half hour.

What is your least favorite food?
Any pureed mushy food (Ground beans for example)

What is your beverage of choice?
High quality Pinot Noir

What are some recent dining and culinary trends you have been observing?
I thought that I was seeing a lot of dishes prepared with garlic and olive oil from Spain. However, I was wrong. Now there are many chefs with very good cooking backgrounds using different ingredients.

When you are not eating at your own restaurant...where are you eating?
I like to eat simple and clean food, like Japanese cooking.

Which foreign country inspires your style most?
France

What was the most spectacular meal you have ever had?
There are too many to remember. However, great food and service make dining experiences much more memorable.

What is your best cooking tip for a home enthusiast?
Be simple. It's not always about ingredients, but technique.

What do you eat when you are home?
Stew with noodle soup

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Expert Profile

Chef Richard Chen is the executive chef of Wing Lei, which translated means "forever prosperous," and is derived from the Chinese character for Wynn. Wing Lei is considered one of North America's premier Chinese restaurants, offering refined Chinese cuisine in an equally elegant and stylish setting. In the 2008 and 2009 Las Vegas Michelin Guides, Wing Lei was recognized with one star, making it the only Michelin-rated Chinese restaurant in North America to receive this distinction. Wing Lei was also the recipient of the AAA Four-Diamond award in 2008.

Prior to his arrival at Wynn Las Vegas, Chef Chen served as both the Chef de Cuisine and Manager of Shanghai Terrace at The Peninsula Chicago where he earned critical acclaim from both local and national media. Chen began his career at the age of seven, working in his parents' restaurant in his native Taiwan. When his family moved to the U.S. and established a restaurant in Chicago, Chen continued to work with them, but decided to formalize his culinary education by attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York. After graduation, Chen remained in New York for two years where he worked at Vista International Hotel in the World Trade Center, before returning to Chicago where he served as a chef at the Ritz-Carlton. Recently, he opened Richard Chen Modern Asian Cuisine in Pittsburg.