2007 R&I Ivy Awards: Blue Ginger, Wellesley, Mass.

If a diner at Blue Ginger doesn’t finish all the food on the plate, Chef-owner Ming Tsai makes a point of finding out why.

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor -- Restaurants & Institutions, 5/1/2007

Opened: 1998 Seats: 130 Staff: 70 Average checks: $60 dinner; $25 lunch Covers: 150 to 200 (Monday to Thursday); 250 to 300 (Friday and Saturday) Fiscal 2006 revenue: $3 million-plus Chef-owner Ming Tsai works the dining room, greeting guests, while also overseeing preparation of each dish... ...such as Garlic Black Pepper Lobster With Lemongrass Fried Rice and Pea Tendril Salad. Buzz from the open kitchen, which runs the length of the front dining room, contrasts with Blue Ginger’s ambience with its Zen-like water sculpture, soft lighting and warm cherry woodwork.

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor

If a diner at Blue Ginger doesn’t finish all the food on the plate, Chef-owner Ming Tsai makes a point of finding out why. Was the food too rich or too salty? Not cooked as desired or was there too much?

Insecurity doesn’t fuel this curious quest, nor does a supersized ego one might expect from a celebrity chef who has three television shows, three cookbooks and a growing line of retail products. Simply put, the charismatic Tsai—known among his staff to be equal parts businessman, family man and good-humored jokester—also is an uncompromising perfectionist.

"The bottom line is, whether it’s a spring roll or foie gras shumai, if it’s not perfect by the standards you’ve set for yourself, never send it out—even if it means holding up a whole table on a Saturday night," he says.

For his high standards, Tsai in part credits lessons learned cooking alongside his parents at their restaurant, Mandarin Kitchen, in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. That’s where he first became captivated by restaurants, quickly developing a taste for the instant gratification afforded by the hospitality industry.

"As a chef, I know every night if I did a great job. I can see plates come back empty, see lots of smiling faces and hear people say thank you," he says.

In his role as executive chef, most of Tsai’s kitchen time at Blue Ginger is not rigidly structured, but instead a mix of overseeing, expediting orders and cooking on the line if needed. With day-to-day duties in the hands of Executive Sous-Chef Jonathan Taylor, Tsai also is free to play the part his celebrity-chef status demands: that of welcoming host. He walks the floor, delivers amuses bouches and chats with guests, many of whom are regulars and a significant number who have made a special trip to the restaurant they’ve seen on television.

Servers, clad in blue button-down shirts, black pants and black bistro aprons, also act as ambassadors for Tsai and Blue Ginger. They are trained to guide guests through the menu, explaining which dishes are signatures, which are meant to be eaten by hand (spring rolls, for example) and pointing out the latest staff favorites. Moreover, everyone on the floor, from hosts to bartenders, knows with detailed precision the ingredients and preparation method for each dish.

"This is a chef-driven restaurant, so food comes first," says General Manager Paula Pearson Taylor. "People have to be more food-focused here than at any other restaurant I’ve experienced."

Ingredients For Success

As serious as Tsai is about food and service, he believes a fun, jovial work environment helps accomplish these goals. Hiring—and keeping—a team that shares his dedication to both is essential. Paula Pearson Taylor and Jonathan Taylor (who met at Blue Ginger seven years ago and were married last September) have worked at the restaurant for seven and eight years, respectively. Many other employees have been with the restaurant for three years or more.

Jonathan Taylor credits the practice of recruiting friendly, outgoing people who are ready to learn for creating the family atmosphere that inspires such dedication.

"This isn’t a staff where everyone needs to do their own thing on their days off. We play golf or go for dim sum together," he says. "If someone has great experience but isn’t nice, he probably won’t get in here. The person who wants to talk to everyone and learn and ask questions is usually the person we want to hire."

Tsai’s own industry education goes far beyond experience gained at the family restaurant. While pursuing a degree in mechanical engineering at Yale University, he spent a summer at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris. After graduating from Yale, he worked with Pastry Chef Pierre Hermé in Paris and with Sushi Master Kobayashi in Japan, and then returned to the States to earn a master’s degree in hotel administration and hospitality marketing from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration in Ithaca, N.Y.

In the ensuing years, he worked front- and back-of-house positions at restaurants from Atlanta to San Francisco.

East Meets West

When it came time to launch his own restaurant in 1998, Tsai did demographic research and felt strongly that Wellesley, an affluent suburb 15 miles outside Boston, would breed success.

"Here we are surrounded by people who travel, love wine, love food, and go to Boston all the time to eat. Why wouldn’t they go somewhere a few minutes away and save the 20-minute drive?" he says.

Tsai and his wife, Polly, designed Blue Ginger’s lively, welcoming space, adding input from a feng shui master to the plan. Conversation and laughter flow freely through the long, softly lit dining room, where wood accents and an Italian-granite floor highlight an understated décor.

While much of Blue Ginger’s menu changes seasonally, signatures such as Sake-Miso Marinated Alaskan Butterfish, Shiitake-Leek Springrolls and Foie Gras-Shiitake Shumai are fixtures, serving as calling cards for Tsai’s trademark "East meets West" approach.

"Fusion is such a technical term. You fuse atoms together—that’s not very pretty. What I do is blend. I combine Eastern and Western techniques and ingredients," he says. "And I love contrasting textures and temperatures."

Tsai prides himself on making recipe development a team effort—and on giving credit where it’s due. He collaborates mainly with Taylor in creating new dishes, but also draws on ideas from Sous-Chefs Tom Woods, Doug Gauthier and the entire kitchen team. He also tastes and critiques amuses created by line cooks and does the same for the staff meal, often prepared by an intern. These practices, Tsai believes, go far in instilling the loyalty and the continual reach for excellence that keep great people on staff.

"It’s like chef school, but you’re getting paid for it, and they love the fact that they can learn," he says. "If you can learn while you’re creating, that’s an even better motivator than money."