Name: Man shares journey from refugee to acclaimed chef
Uploaded: 2025-11-10T15:00:13.602Z
Duration: 4 min 5 s
Description: Yia Vang, the chef behind the Minneapolis hot spot Vinai, says his restaurant is a love letter to his parents. He arrived in the U.S. as a refugee when he was a young boy. Now, he blends his Hmong heritage and Midwestern upbringing to create innovative dishes that honor his family.

Yia Vang, the chef behind the Minneapolis hot spot Vinai, says his restaurant is a love letter to his parents. He arrived in the U.S. as a refugee when he was a young boy. Now, he blends his Hmong heritage and Midwestern upbringing to create innovative dishes that honor his family.

Minneapolis

Chef Ye Vang, who arrived in the United States as a refugee from the Ban Vinai camp in Thailand, is now the acclaimed chef behind Vinai, a Minneapolis restaurant named one of the world's greatest places by Time Magazine. Vang, a James Beard Award nominee, emphasizes that building community and a sense of belonging is more important to his success than food alone.

Drawing on his Hmong heritage and Midwestern upbringing, Vang has created a restaurant that serves as a tribute to his parents and their journey. Vinai sources ingredients from his mother's garden and local Hmong markets, blending tradition with innovation to offer approachable dishes that reflect his family's story and values.

Man shares journey from refugee to acclaimed chef

This morning our series The Dish takes us to a restaurant named by Time Magazine as one of the world's greatest places. The chef behind the Minneapolis hotspot, Vinai, is a James Beard Award nominee. But he says good food is not the most important ingredient to his success. Jamie Ucas shows us how Ye Vang, who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee, set out to create a place where everyone feels like they belong. Okay, chef. I never wanted to be a cook. Never? No, no, no. My whole life was trying to get out of it. Even with a name that means iron skillet in his native tongue Hmong. Thank you, chef. Ye Vang's dream was to cook up something bigger than he ever could in the kitchen. We want to create a great atmosphere where people feel like they belong. You want a community. Absolutely. Something Vang sought ever since he moved to America at age four. The name of his award-winning restaurant, Vinai, goes back even further to this place, the Ban Vinai refugee camp in Thailand, where Vang was born. His parents met there, Hmong refugees forced to flee their homeland during the Vietnam War, but tied to the earth by their cuisine, cooked over an open fire. All right, so the fat side's going on. Yep, bring it up a little bit. Like Vang learned from family long before it was trendy. He calls his restaurant a love letter to his parents. Five years ago, I literally wrote a letter to my parents and never showed it to them because, you know, like we're Asian men. We keep our emotions ourselves. Have you showed it to him yet? No, no, no, no, no. But he did show it to the designers of the restaurant. They created this space and all these little areas in here represents part of that letter. There was a time as a child in rural Pennsylvania and Wisconsin that Vang felt embarrassed to be different. I remember when I was a kid, I would go to bed and I would kind of cry and I would pray and I'd be like, you know, can I wake up tomorrow with white parents? I want to eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, you know, and stuff like that. I never wanted to cook Asian food in general, to be completely honest. You wanted peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Oh, I wanted my peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You won't find peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the menu here at Vinai. And then we have our cauliflower. Where Vang blends his Hmong heritage and Midwestern upbringing to create innovative dishes that honor his family. I truly know what my true north is. What is it? You know, it's mom and dad. I don't know, it's kind of dorky, but like my dad, he always said, don't be like me. But I've gotten everywhere I am in life because I want to be like him. To me, like, it only matters what they say. How proud are you of your son? It's hard to imagine, Vang's mother Pang told me, that something this big was possible. And Vang insists it wouldn't be possible without them. Mom and them, they harvest all the chewing gum. This is all from your mom's garden. Yeah, and this is mom's hot sauce. For other authentic ingredients, Vang comes here to Hmong Village in St. Paul, the largest Hmong market in the country. Where he's something of a celebrity. At Hmong Village, we got these pea tenders, which I love pea tenders, right? Vang pairs them with chicken. That seems simple enough. Absolutely, it's one of the most delicious dishes ever. As I was about to find out. So we have the chicken here. I can use my hands. Oh, that's my girl. Mmm, the spice and the garlic and the skin and the fat, oh my gosh. Here's what I tell people, because when people go, hey man, we want to come to this Hmong place, but is it too exotic for us? I'm like, it's chicken, you know, like vegetables, sauce. It's not too far out there. And after such an adventurous journey, Vang finally feels right where he belongs. For CBS Mornings, I'm Jamie Ukas in Minneapolis.

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