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James Daniel Bowien (born 1982) is a chef and restaurateur. He is the founder and owner of Mission Chinese Food in New York City and Brooklyn and co-founder of Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco, California. Bowien is a James Beard Award winner, and the main subject of season six of the food and travel show The Mind of a Chef.[1]

Danny Bowien
Born	James Daniel Bowien 1982 (age 39–40) South Korea
Nationality	American
Occupation	Chef

Early life

Bowien, born in South Korea, was adopted at a young age by a family in Oklahoma.[2][3] Growing up as one of the only Korean Americans in school left him without a clear sense of identity, and his roots in Asian culture fostered a need to do something respectable.[4] He had various jobs, including as a dishwasher in a Vietnamese restaurant,[3] and at age 19 he moved to San Francisco.[3]

Career

After a spell in culinary school Bowien worked at several restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Italian restaurant Farina.[5] Through his work there he was sent to the 2008 Pesto World Championships in Genoa, Italy, where he won first place.[6]

Bowien partnered with Anthony Myint on a series of food truck pop-ups including Mission Street Food and Mission Burger, and with the owners of a Chinese restaurant called Lung Shan on Mission Street, started Mission Chinese Food as the first restaurant-within-a-restaurant pop-up.[5] It was named the second Best New Restaurant in America by Bon Appetit Magazine and fourth Best New Restaurant in America by GQ Magazine.[7][8] Bowien was nominated the 2011 Rising Star Chef by the San Francisco Chronicle, and in 2012 he was a James Beard Award Finalist.[9][10] He was included in Food and Wine Magazine's 40 Big Thinkers under 40, and San Francisco Chronicle’s Bay Area 30 under 30.[11][12]

After leaving San Francisco in 2012 Bowien opened a standalone Mission Chinese Food in New York City's Lower East Side.[13] In 2013, he opened a Mexican restaurant, Mission Cantina, in New York.[14] Mission Cantina was closed 3 years later.[15] In May 2013, Bowien was awarded the prestigious "Rising Star Chef" by the James Beard Foundation for his work in the Mission Chinese Food in San Francisco and New York City.[16]

In 2014 Bowien moved Mission Chinese Food to New York's Chinatown.[17] In 2017, Bowien was chosen to be the main subject of the sixth season of the food and travel show The Mind of a Chef. It premiered on November 14, 2017, on Facebook Watch.[1] In 2018, Bowien opened a new Mission Chinese Food location in Bushwick, Brooklyn in front of the independent music venue Elsewhere.[18] In September, 2020, Bowien announced permanent closure of the Mission outpost on East Broadway in Chinatown, due to the hardships COVID-19 had on the hospitality industry.[19] While the Mission Chinese Food in Chinatown had closed permanently by the end of September 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Bushwick location remained open.[20]

Culinary style

Bowien is recognized for his impact on the democratization of fine dining.[21] Bowien is known as a populist, making food that is accessible to everyone.[22] His work in the kitchen is notable, according to GQ, for pioneering the elevation of Chinese food and breaking down barriers in an industry known for its strict Eurocentric hierarchy.[3]

References

External links

• dannybowien.com
• eatatmission.com
• missionchinesefood.com

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