Charles Phan has died at age 62

Today we learned the unfortunate news that Charles Phan, renowned chef and author of Vietnamese Home Cooking and The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food, has passed away at the age of 62. Reports emerged over the weekend indicating that the talented chef had been admitted to the hospital. His family has since confirmed that he suffered cardiac arrest.

Phan was 13 when his family fled Vietnam and moved to the US. His famed restaurant, The Slanted Door, opened its doors in 1995 and has relocated several times including opening in other locations in Napa, San Ramon, and Beaute. A carry out restaurant, Chuck’s Takeaway, debuted in San Francisco in 2022. The Slanted Door Group currently oversees five restaurants, including the soon-to-open Moonset in Larkspur.

Although the Ferry Building location has been closed since 2020 due to the pandemic, it is set to reopen this spring at its original site on 17th and Valencia in the Mission District. In a separate statement, The Slanted Door Group affirmed, “The restaurants will continue to operate under the leadership of our management team as we navigate this transition.”

Chef Phan and his restaurant were the recipient of numerous James Beards and other awards including: Outstanding Chef 2011; Nominee, Outstanding Restaurant 2008; Winner, Who’s Who of Food & Beverage in America 2011 and Winner, Best Chefs 2004. The Slanted Door: Modern Vietnamese Food won the IACP Cookbook Award for Photography in 2015.