Inside the Kitchen: Seven Questions with Mei Lin

5 Minute read

02 Jun 2025

Journalist

Chef Mei Lin shares her thoughts on fine dining, her love of soup, the childhood memories that inspired her passion for food, and why she thinks working in restaurants is the most fun.

What Is Your Deserted Island Meal?

I’ll say Hainan chicken and rice. When it's done right, it's literally perfect. There’s a place in Vancouver called HK Barbecue Master and they do an incredible soy sauce chicken with ginger, scallion over rice—and that’s amazing.

What’s Your Most Poignant Food Memory?

For me, my favorite food moments were the ones that I'd spend with my grandpa. He was the one who really got me into cooking, or got me interested in food. I remember as a kid, him taking me to go grocery shopping and kind of capturing all the different smells in the grocery store—seeing live crab, eating things like plantains for the first time. Obviously, me thinking they’re bananas when they are plantains. Those were my fondest food memories. It was an Asian grocery store in Michigan called Viet Wah. I think it was Southfield, Michigan, because there weren't really many Asian grocery stores in Dearborn. We had to travel, maybe a 30-minute drive away from Dearborn. And my parents still shop there to this day.

What Does Fine Dining Mean to You?

Fine dining means exceptional service and amazingly served food in a fancier setting.

What Are Your Restaurant Goals or Dreams?

Never say never. I like to focus on one for a while before kind of venturing out and doing another. I love the restaurant industry so much, and I love being in a restaurant. I just love the hustle and bustle of an active service. And so I'll never say no to opening up another restaurant, but I don't know when that's going to happen—so just kind of focus on this one for now.

What’s On Your Restaurant Bucket List to Visit?

The one restaurant I have on my bucket list right now is Etxebarri. I've always been inspired by the food that he makes. It's very, very simple, but done to perfection. Cooking over the fire, as well, is something that I love doing. I've never done it in a restaurant, per se, but I just love the flavor that it exudes and so I really want to experience Etxebarri in that sense.

What Is Your Food/Cooking Philosophy?

Just being unapologetic about the food that you put forth. It's pretty much my view in general. I don't like to sacrifice on quality. I always like to put that in the forefront. We're using the best ingredients possible, putting out the best food we can.

What's Your Comfort Food?

I love soup. I think more so now, as I've gotten older, I want a really great bowl of soup. I want to curl up on the couch, in the corner of the couch, and just eat a bowl of soup—whether it be a brothy soup, or a stew, or congee, anything along those lines.

The Chef

Despite spending her childhood in the kitchens of her parents’ and relatives’ Chinese restaurants, chef Mei Lin says she initially had no interest in cooking Chinese food.

“But as I grew up, and as I started cooking more, I began going back to my roots. I started cooking the familiar, nostalgic flavors I grew up with. I really wanted to put those flavors at the forefront and cook the food I grew up eating—my way.”

Born in China and raised in Dearborn, Michigan, Lin spent her early career in acclaimed kitchens, refining her fine-dining skills at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Las Vegas and Michael Voltaggio’s Ink in Los Angeles. Her breakthrough came in 2014, when she won Top Chef: Boston, launching her into the national spotlight.

While Lin sees food television and restaurant work as distinct worlds, she acknowledges its impact: “Doing food television, I feel that it brings people into the restaurant and I think that’s fantastic. It really helps the traffic, especially in these tough times,” she says.

In 2019, Lin opened Nightshade in the Arts District of Los Angeles. The restaurant quickly earned acclaim for its bold, imaginative dishes—including her now-iconic mapo tofu lasagna layered with housemade pasta. Nightshade earned her a 2020 James Beard semifinalist nod for Best Chef: California before it closed during the pandemic.

Her latest project, the newly opened 88 Club in Beverly Hills, marks a return to fine dining—with a deeply personal edge. Lin is unapologetic about her vision.

“I don’t like to sacrifice on quality. I always put that at the forefront. We’re using the best ingredients possible and putting out the best food we can,” she says, emphasizing that she hopes diners understand the depth of what she’s offering.

02 Jun 2025