On todays THE FOOD SEEN, Charles Phans family left Vietnam just before the fall of Saigon to the Vietcong. Arriving to San Francisco in the mid 1970s, Phan explored careers in pottery, architecture, but his familys long history as excellent home cooks, manifest itself in 1995 when The Slanted Door opened its doors on Valencia Street in The Mission. The original iteration was going to be a rice crepe shop, instead Phan ventured past spring rolls and peanut sauce, introducing us to pho, rice porridges, clay pot cooking, and the wonders of fish sauce. In 2004 The Slanted Door moved to the Ferry Building, Phan won the James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef California, and Vietnamese cuisine was a solid part of San Franciscos culinary architecture. Last year Phan won the JBFA for Outsanding Restaurant, celebrating its 20th anniversary with the release of his new cookbook The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food. HỠc ăn, hỠc nói, hỠc gói, hỠc mở. This program was brought to you by Cain Vineyard and Winery. I was a guy who tried to bring american culture into my family. would buy everybody presents for Christmas and had to buy myself one so it looked normal. [09:00] I dont believe in this artistry bull-crap. You should study the craft, do it well, bring a little bit of history, educate people then everything else will go fine. [20:00] Part of the goal with the book was to tell people some of our story and our struggle of going from place to place. [25:00] --Charles Phan on The Food Seen