Chef Nguyen Bui hails from Northern California. He never planned on becoming a chef. Rather, he became an EMT with a goal to eventually work in medicine. After his EMT shift, for fun, he’d help out his friend at a food and wine bar in San Francisco. Eventually, a few days a week of cooking wasn’t enough so he left medicine altogether to work full time as a chef. Nguyen is currently the sous chef at Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica, who just received their first Michelin star. He's been with Rustic Canyon for 3 years and prior to that, trained under 2 Michelin star chef James Syhabout at Chef Syhabout’s supperhouse in Oakland. This past March, Nguyen hosted his very first pop-up called ‘Anise’, where he showcased his passion for the food from his own culture, updated with new techniques and flavors from his culinary training.