Rachel Yang - My Rice Bowl: Korean Cooking Outside the Lines

I was born , not Rachel Yang. But during the summer between high school and college, when I was eighteen, my mother, younger sister, and I sat around the kitchen table in Westchester County with a book of American baby names. Rachel, we decided, would replace the butchered Americanization of Yang Chung Hwa. It was the ninth most popular baby name in 1996, so it felt safe: Id change my name to Rachel. I could be one of them. Nevermind that Koreans typically have a hard time pronouncing Rs and Ls. With an American name and a degree from Brown University, I would surely have a nice cubicle in one of those high-rises in a big cityeither in Korea or in America. It didnt really matter where.

Twenty years later, I am now a chef, a restaurateur, a wife, and a mom to two young boys. I always knew I was the marrying kind, and I always knew I wanted children. But I didnt just decide to become a chef in the same way. That part was an accident. I didnt expect to work in some of New Yorks best restaurants, fall in love with a Midwestern cook in the kitchen, move to Seattle, and open four restaurants. And I surprised everyoneespecially myselfby winding up as a Korean chef who doesnt cook Korean food.

But thats exactly what happened. Today, with my husband Seif Chirchi (and with the occasional help of our young boys, Pike and Rye), we run four restaurants: Joule, Revel, and Trove in Seattle, Washington; and Revelry in Portland, Oregon. It works first and foremost because Seif and I are an unbeatable team. It works because we have the kind of dedicated, hardworking, creative staff that help us carry out the challenges we set forth but also challenge us in return. And finally, it works because our food is very uniquedifferent from any other food, yet always reminding our customers of their very favorite things.

I am Korean, but this book is not about how to make Koreas traditional rice bowl, bibimbap.