Charles Phan, the celebrated chef behind the renowned Slanted Door restaurants and a pioneer in bringing modern Vietnamese cuisine to the Bay Area and beyond, died Monday at the age of 62.
His representatives confirmed that the cause was cardiac arrest. Phan had been hospitalized the previous week following a medical emergency that led to a brain injury, local media reports said.
"While this was sudden and shocking to many of us, we will endure as the Slanted Door has for almost 30 years," the Phan family and the Slanted Door Group said in a statement. "The restaurants will continue to operate under the leadership of our management team as we navigate this transition."
Who was Charles Phan?
Phan was born in Da Lat, Vietnam, and fled the country with his family at the age of 13, eventually settling in San Francisco. He learned to cook Vietnamese cuisine from his mother and aunt, preparing meals for his five siblings, and further developed his skills by watching cooking shows on television.
Initially pursuing an interest in architecture, Phan attended the University of California, Berkeley, but left the program before completing his degree. He later shifted his focus to cooking, opening the first Slanted Door restaurant in 1995. A self-taught chef, Phan gained national acclaim for modernizing Vietnamese cuisine, emphasizing fresh, local ingredients in signature dishes like cellophane noodles with Dungeness crab and clay pot chicken.
The Slanted Door evolved over the years, moving to 100 Brannan Street before establishing its flagship location in San Francisco's historic Ferry Building in 2004, with a space designed by Lundberg Design. The restaurant temporarily closed in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Though Phan initially intended to reopen the Ferry Building location, he announced its permanent closure in May 2024. Just three months later, he revealed plans to revive the Slanted Door in its original location at 584 Valencia Street, slated to open in 2025.
