The Top 100 Community Award of Excellence is given to a Chinese Restaurateur or organization in the Chinese Restaurant industry that uses their culinary expertise and their business to give back to the community in a philanthropic manner.
The Asia Chefs Foundation Christmas Food Drive is an annual event at which Asian chefs gather to contribute their time and culinary expertise in preparing gourmet Asian Fusion meals for the needy and homeless during the holiday season. For the past three years, ACA has served more than 3,000 gourmet Chinese lunch and dinner to the needy and homeless in San Francisco bay during Christmas time.
This year, we want to award Asian Chefs Association for their charitable work in giving back to the community. We also recognize them for the work they do for their foundation, CHEFS WITHOUT BORDERS which raising awareness and funds for anti human trafficking and bringing short and long term relief to children in need across Asia.
Tonight we have 2 cofounders of the Asia Chefs Association from San Francisco with us tonight, Larry Chu and Khai Duong here with us today to accept the Top 100 Community Award of Excellence.
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Lawrence C. C. Chu Lawrence Chu was born in Sichuan province of China and raised in Taiwan, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In 1970, he opened the award-winning Chef Chu’s Restaurant in Los Altos, California. His creative flair, first-hand knowledge about the regional cuisines of China, and dedication to using only the highest-quality ingredients have made Chef Chu’s one of the San Francisco Bay Area’s est-loved Chinese restaurants. A renowned cookbook author, lecturer, and media personality, Lawrence Chu is the author of the cookbook, Chef Chu’s Distinctive Cuisine of China (Harper & Row, 1983). He has appeared on Marin Yan’s “Yan Can Cook”, Regis Philbin’s “Good Morning NY” and the PBS Network’s “Great Chefs in Great Cities”. For the past four decades, Lawrence Chu has used his passion and culinary expertise to share his love for Classical Chinese Cuisine. Chef Chu continues to give back to the community through support of numerous local charities and as one of the Founders of the Asian Chef Association. “The secret to longevity in the restaurant business is treating everyday like Grand Opening Day!” - Chef Lawrence C. C. Chu. |
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Khai Duong Khai Duong, Executive Chef at Ana Mandara in San Francisco, is considered one of the world's leading Asian chefs, and one of the pioneers of modern Vietnamese cuisine. He has been featured in Gourmet Magazine, Bon Appetit, InStyle Magazine, USA Today, The San Francisco Chronicle, Chef Magazine and many others . Using inspiration from his native village of Nha Trang, Duong has created some of the most original and striking executions of modern Vietnamese dishes in the world since Ana Mandara's opening in 2000. Ana Mandara is one of the few Asian restaurants in the US with a full-time sommelier and has consistently been awarded the Wine Spectator's Award of Excellence. A graduate o f Le Cordon Bleu Academie Culinaire De Paris, Duong's professional experience includes stints at Le Bernardin in New York City, the Boca Raton Resort Hotel (Mobil 5 star/5 diamond) in Florida, the Maui Prince Hotel in Hawaii, and Le Colonial in Beverly Hills. Duong is the founder of Chefs Without Borders and the Asian Chefs Association and the recipient of 2007 California Culinary Academy Educational Foundation's Chef Star of Fame, presented by Martin Yan. |
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Jimmy Zhao On the day of June 12, 2008, a month from 5.12 Sichuan earthquake, Jimmy (Rui) Zhao organized a fund-raiser dinner at his restaurant Lucky Garden 2(Melborne, FL), and donated $7,000, the total dinner sales of the day to a local elemenatry school in Sichuan in hope to help on the rebuild of the school. Rui Zhao happened to be in Chengdu, Sichuan, and personally expereienced the earthquake when it happened on May 12. He joined the local people in the rescue efforts before returning to U.S., and did a few fund raisers in his restaurants later on. |
