Thai Dang

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Chef Thai Dang Chef Thai Dang MAY2025.jpg
Chef Thai Dang

Thai Dang is executive chef of HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen in Chicago. [1]

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His West Loop, Chicago restaurant Embeya was an Esquire magazine best new restaurant winner. [2] Embeya closed in 2015 after his business partner committed a $300,000 embezzlement and fled the country to Spain. [3] [4] In 2020 a federal judge sentenced Attila Gyulai to three years of probation after he pled guilty to wire fraud following his arrest and extradition from Spain. [5] [6]

Dang's next restaurant HaiSous opened in 2017 in Pilsen, Chicago, [7] and reached the semi-final for the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. In 2022, Dang’s restaurants Dang Good Wings and Cà Phê Đá opened on campus at the University of Chicago. [8] In 2024 Dang continued collaborating with Black Sheep Restaurants in Hong Kong at their Vietnamese concepts Le Garçon Saigon and Chôm Chôm. [9] Dang was a finalist for best chef Great Lakes at the 2025 James Beard Awards. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Crying Tiger in River North is Dang’s first restaurant concept with Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. [15] [16]

Dang cites Laurent Gras of L2O among his culinary influences. [7]

Personal life

Dang was born in Dong Nai province, the youngest child among six brothers and three sisters. [17] In 1989, the family fled Vietnam as refugees to Bataan, the Philippines, and later settled in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois sponsored by a Catholic non-profit organisation. [17]

See also

References

  1. HaiSous
  2. Gerzina, Daniel (October 7, 2013). "Carriage House and Embeya Make Esquire's Best New Restaurants List". Eater.
  3. Freeman, Sarah (June 23, 2016). "Embeya, A Former Best New Restaurant, Shuttered Suddenly Over The Weekend". Eater.
  4. "His partner fled with their money. Now he runs one of Chicago's hottest restaurants". Crain’s Chicago Business. September 16, 2024.
  5. Selvam, Ashok (February 25, 2020). "Former Fugitive Restaurateur Who Cheated $300K from Chef Sentenced to Probation". Eater.
  6. Chicago Restaurateur Charged with Fraud for Allegedly Swindling Investors in His West Loop Eatery U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, February 12, 2018
  7. 1 2 Kaye, David. "HaiSous Restaurant: Thai and Danielle Dang's Chicago Comeback". Vietcetera.
  8. Chang, Sabrina. "Award-Winning Chef Thai Dang Brings Vietnamese Cuisine to UChicago". Chicago Maroon. University of Chicago.
  9. CHEF THAI DANG RETURNS Black Sheep Restaurants
  10. "Chicago restaurants, chefs among 2025 James Beard Award nominees". ABC7. April 2, 2025.
  11. Here Are Chicago’s 2025 James Beard Award Finalists Leen Yassine, Block Club Chicago, April 2, 2025
  12. The 2025 James Beard Restaurant and Chef Award Nominees April 2, 2025
  13. Here are Chicago’s 5 James Beard nominees Chicago Tribune, Zareen Syed, April 3, 2025
  14. Yassine, Leen; Ihnat, Gwen (June 16, 2025). "Chicago's James Beard Winners Rip Trump Policies, Thank Immigrants: 'F–k ICE'". Block Club Chicago.
  15. REPANICH, Jeremy (January 14, 2025). "The 20 Most Anticipated Restaurant Openings in the U.S. This Year". Robb Report.
  16. The 12 Most Anticipated Chicago Restaurant Openings Of 2025 Modern Luxury, Fiona Good-Sirota, March 31, 2025
  17. 1 2 Chan, Bernice (29 March 2019). "From Vietnamese refugee to co-owner of acclaimed Chicago restaurant HaiSous". South China Morning Post.