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Charles Phan, the chef who founded San Francisco’s Slanted Door, died on January 20, 2025, at age 62. The Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle reported that he died of cardiac arrest, citing statements from his restaurant group or family.
Who was Charles Phan?
Born in Da Lat, Vietnam, in 1962, Phan was the oldest of six children. He learned to cook from his mother and aunt. His family left Vietnam when he was 13, according to the Associated Press account of the restaurant’s announcement. He later studied architecture at the University of California, Berkeley, before leaving the program and moving into restaurant work, the Washington Post reported.
![Vietnamese Food Any Day: Simple Recipes for True, Fresh Flavors [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51g20155fLL._SL160_.jpg)
![Vietnamese Home Cooking: [A Cookbook]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51TZB5G+Z1L._SL160_.jpg)
Phan’s work drew on the food he knew from home. In the introduction to his 2012 cookbook Vietnamese Home Cooking, he described the Slanted Door’s dishes as “mostly my (and my family’s) home cooking” adapted for a restaurant. He also recalled his founding instinct: “My hunch was that the Vietnamese dishes my mom made at home would be popular here if made with quality ingredients.”
What was the Slanted Door?
Phan opened the original Slanted Door in San Francisco’s Mission District in 1995. The restaurant’s history says he had first hoped to open a Vietnamese crêpe stand or noodle shop in the Tenderloin, then found a space in his own neighborhood.
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The Slanted Door paired Vietnamese cooking rooted in family meals with a contemporary restaurant setting. Its approach brought together modern design, locally sourced sustainable ingredients, quality teas and wine pairings. The Associated Press described Phan as an innovator credited with bringing Vietnamese food into fine dining; that contribution is best understood through the restaurant’s particular combination of home cooking, ingredients and setting, rather than as a claim that he alone invented the approach.
The restaurant expanded beyond its original location and moved to larger San Francisco spaces over the years. Its present-day status is not established here, so this remembrance does not imply that a particular location is open.
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What honors did Charles Phan receive?
- 2004: The James Beard Foundation named Phan Best Chef: California.
- 2011: He was inducted into the foundation’s Who’s Who of Food in America.
- 2014: The Slanted Door received the foundation’s Outstanding Restaurant in America recognition, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
What cookbooks did he write?
Phan authored Vietnamese Home Cooking in 2012 and The Slanted Door in 2014. The publisher describes The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food as a 288-page book containing 100 recipes from his restaurant, published on October 7, 2014. That recipe count is for the cookbook; it does not establish which particular signature dishes are included.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How was Charles Phan remembered?
The Slanted Door’s statement after his death said, “Charles was more than a chef. He was one of the most generous humans.” That was praise issued by the restaurant, not a quotation attributed to an individual speaker.
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