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Ming Tsai (Chinese: 蔡明昊; pinyin: Cài Mínghào; born March 29, 1964) is an American fusion cuisine chef and restaurateur who currently hosts two cooking shows – Ming's Quest on the Fine Living television channel and Simply Ming on American Public Television – and formerly hosted East Meets West on the Food Network, for which he won an Emmy Award. He has appeared as a challenger chef on the Food Network's Iron Chef America beating Iron Chef Bobby Flay in "Battle Duck" and was a judge for Cooking Under Fire on the PBS network.

Biography

Early life

Tsai was born in Newport Beach, California, but raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he attended The Miami Valley School. He often helped his parents Steve and Iris with their family restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen. Ming's maternal grandfather is the renowned Chinese conductor Dr. Baochen Li, his paternal grandfather graduated from the Department of Economics at Beijing University, and his uncle and brother are mechanical engineers.^{[citation needed]}

Ming's father, Dr. Stephen W. Tsai, is a Professor Research Emeritus, Aeronautics and Astronautics, at Stanford University and is also a graduate of Yale University.^[1] Tsai transferred to Phillips Academy and later Yale University where he graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering. Later, he received a master's degree in hotel administration and hospitality marketing from Cornell University.

Ming Tsai speaks four languages: English, Spanish, French, and Mandarin Chinese. It's also noted that Ming Tsai (名菜 míng cài) also means "famous dish" in Chinese.

Career

In 1998, Tsai, along with his wife Polly (née Talbott), opened his first restaurant, Blue Ginger, in Wellesley, Massachusetts. Ming is the author of three cookbooks: Blue Ginger, Simply Ming, and Ming's Master Recipes.

In his PBS show Simply Ming, Tsai often uses ceramic cooking knives and tools manufactured by Kyocera Advanced Ceramics. On occasion, usually when in the Boston area doing business in his restaurant Blue Ginger, Tsai can be heard on the radio station WAAF 107.3 as a call in and sometimes as an in-studio guest on "The Hillman Morning Show", in November, 2006, he was part of an "Egg Nog Challenge" against another well known Chef and Morning Show Regular Spaz.

During the summer of 2004, Ming Tsai participated in a "Zoom Out" on ZOOM, a show sponsored by PBS. In addition, he has been a guest star on the PBS children's television show Arthur. Tsai recently guest starred on an episode of Top Chef. In 2000, Ming was #16 on People Magazines Most Beautiful People list.

In 2006 Tsai voiced himself in an episode of Arthur, in which he judged a cooking contest.

In March 2010 Tsai will open Blue Ginger Noodle Bar, a mini-restaurant, inside Blue Ginger. ^[2]

Sports

Tsai was a formidable squash player at Yale, playing No. 2 for the team, and named as an All-Ivy League player in 1986. While attending culinary school in France, Tsai played professionally on the European circuit. After returning to the U.S. Tsai was an elite player known for his speed, conditioning and tenacity.

His squash coach at Yale, David Talbott, is now his brother-in-law, as is the legendary Mark Talbott, a former World No. 1 hardball squash player. In 2004, Tsai played a celebrity squash match against professional golfer Brad Faxon at a Boston squash club. In 2005, he played against Mark Talbott in a charity match at a squash club in San Francisco.

Ming Tsai is a Boston Celtics fan.^[3]

Notes

External links

• Official website
• Simply Ming website