@budonokila

Since his childhood growing up in Los Angeles in a household of Thai immigrants, Dan always had a knack for cooking. His mother was famous for her fermented pork sausage (Naem) recipe which she sold to local Thai markets in the 1980's, one Dan guards with his life to this today. After graduating from Loyola Marymount University and subsequently attending culinary school, Dan began his career as a cook in a 2 Michelin star kitchen at Urasawa. After learning under chef Hiro at Urasawa, Dan's longest tenure came under Thomas Keller at Bouchon in Beverly Hills, where Dan mastered French technique in a highly competitive and rigorous kitchen, working his way up to Executive Sous Chef. After spending the better part of a decade at Bouchon, Dan left to return to his first passion, Japanese food, this time at the highly lauded Hayato and Tsubaki. Now, he leads the kitchen at Tartine on Sycamore where you'll occasionally see nuggets of Thai or Japanese culinary influence find their way onto the menu next to the more classic croissants and quiches.