Meet Chef Tu.
As Chef Tu David Phu sees it, the path to cooking his unique style of Vietnamese cuisine has as much to do with his birthright and birthplace. Phu is an Oakland, CA-born first-generation Vietnamese-American chef whose family hails from the island of Phu Quoc, accredited as the birthplace of fish sauce in Asia. His family has been producing small-batch artisanal Phu Quoc Fish Sauce, considered Champagne of fish sauces, since 1895.
Phu cut his culinary teeth in the kitchens of some of the nation’s top restaurants - from New York’s internationally acclaimed Daniel to San Francisco’s 2-star Michelin, Acquerello. He has encompassed various cooking cultures - from the American culinary greats to classical European traditions. But what he calls “the memory of taste” pulled him back to his roots; the practices, ingredients, techniques, and flavors of Vietnamese cuisine. Revisiting his favorite childhood dishes, Chef Tu began an in-depth exploration of his mother’s cuisine, a generations-old culinary repertoire. Pilgrimages back to Vietnam were frequent and inspirational.
