Pittsburg chef recognized by prestigious James Beard Awards

Zhu Wei fires up a wok in the kitchen of Chengdu Gourmet in Pittsburgh. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY

His parents wanted him to do what they did: go into the bakery business. But Zhu Wei didn't want to have anything to do with baking. He wanted to do ``dishes.''

Now, going against his parents' wishes and those dishes have earned the chef and owner of Chengdu Gourmet in Pittsburgh a slot as one of the 20 semi-finalists in the "Best Chef" category in Mid-Atlantic region for the James Beard Foundation Award, a prestigious honor in the US restaurant business.

Zhu opened his restaurant in 2014. He said that he has never advertised it, and relies on customers' recommendations.

"I was pleasantly surprised when they notified me of this honor a couple of weeks ago. Some of my customers sent me cards of congratulations, and the restaurant has seen more customers than before the news came out. I guess this award is a big deal.''

Final nominees for the Beard Awards will be announced on March 15, and winners will honored in a ceremony at the Lyric Opera of Chicago on May 1.

Zhu, who grew up in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, has been working in food industry since he was 15.

"Both of my parents specialized in bakery and wished that I would follow their footsteps. However, I found bakery repetitive and boring. I was more interested in doing dishes," he said.

Against his parents' wish, Zhu left bakery and went to work at various restaurants to learn how to cook with experienced chefs when he was 18.

"I like to study how to create dishes that are both pleasing to the eyes and palate. It brings me great pleasure to produce a delicious and pleasing looking dish," said Zhu, whose bakery training at an early age gave him skills in food presentation.

After a few years of apprenticeship under chefs, Zhu opened his own restaurants. Some failed, some succeeded.

A friend of Zhu's persuaded him to come to the US in 2005 to learn more about the restaurant business and he landed in New York. "However, I found most dishes in Sichuan restaurants here were not that great, not even as good as mine. As far as cooking is concerned, there was nothing for me to learn," Zhu said.

In 2008, Zhu decided to return to China for good and went to visit a friend in Pittsburgh before heading back. That trip changed his plan.

"I found only one Sichuan cuisine restaurant in Pittsburgh and the dishes were not good at all. It happened that some restaurant was looking for help and convinced me to stay," Zhu said.