Ming on why he closed Blue Ginger
Celebrity chef Ming Tsai gathered fellow culinary masters Jamie Bissonnette of Coppa, Toro and Little Donkey, and Steve DiFillippo of Davio’s at the Ritz-Carlton for the annual Cooking Live! event benefiting Family Reach, a nonprofit helping families struggling under the financial burdens of cancer.
As Tsai whipped up some shrimp toast with pediatric cancer patient Ella Campbell, he dished to the Track about the impending close of his popular Wellesley restaurant Blue Ginger — and what the charity Family Reach has to do with it.
“I didn’t stop crying until I started drinking tequila,” Ming said of his plans to shut down Blue Ginger in June after 19 years of operation. “The tequila calms me down for some reason.”
The decision, he said, was painful but tactical. Ming needed to make room on his plate for his latest project: ChowStirs, a fast-casual concept that would allow diners to build their own stir-fry with fresh, healthy ingredients and have them cooked before their eyes.
“I had to lose one of my restaurants to make it happen,” he said, adding that the first ChowStirs location is slated to open in downtown Boston between January and March 2018.
Ming said ChowStirs combines all of his passions, including “combating the horrible obesity crisis in America” and being conscientious about common food allergies.
All of the dishes will fall into the $11 to $15 price range and will be freshly wok-stirred for each customer.
Not only will the ingredients be good for your health, they will also be good for the environment.
Most important, Ming stressed that his hope for ChowStirs is to make it another means of supporting Family Reach.
His vision is to build it into a chain, with proceeds benefiting the organization.
“Cancer is horrible, but it shouldn’t bankrupt you,” Tsai said.
“Studies show that the poorer you are, the higher the chance you’ll die.”
And if ChowStirs were to go national, he said he’d allow all the families tied to Family Reach to come into the restaurant location nearest them during offhours to eat for free.
“I want to take over the world,” he said.
“I want to build awareness and make money for Family Reach.
“Like Paul Newman did with his dressings.”