Fork Dork: Chin Means Business at Bis on Main

in Old Bellevue has hired restaurant industry veteran Shing Chin as its new manager. Chin replaces Tim Shea, who will be opening the Bay Café on Lopez Island.

Chin has held management positions at the original Wild Ginger on Western Avenue in downtown Seattle, at in Bellevue, El Gaucho, Fullers at the Seattle Sheraton, the Salish Lodge, Waterfront Seafood Grill on Seattle’s waterfront, the Market Street Grill in Ballard and Toulouse Petit in Lower Queen Anne.

Chin owned Ovio Bistro and O2 in West Seattle, where he was also the general manager.

“His restaurant where I ate several times was awesome,” said Bis on Main owner and general manager Joe Villardi. “Knowing that he had that restaurant that is very similar in style to what we do was a factor. Restaurants like that don’t just happen.

“He’s very professional, qualified, even-handed and calm. He has that nice floor presence.”

Anger turns to savings at Monsoon East

British statesman Sir Francis Bacon said, “Anger makes dull men witty, but it keeps them poor.” Dull Vietnamese food is making chef and owner Eric Banh angry, motivating him to create a traditional Vietnamese seven-course Wagyu beef dinner that might make him a profit.

“I am tired of so much Vietnamese food being dumbed down,” Banh said of the food from his native Vietnam sold around the Puget Sound. “It makes me angry thinking about it.”

Banh will be offering a seven-course Wagyu Beef dinner for two for $45 on Tuesdays at Monsoon Capitol Hill and Wednesdays at Monsoon East in Old Bellevue starting this month.

Dishes, made with Kobe-style beef from Snake River Farms, include carpaccio salad, steamed ground beef with tapioca noodles and wood ear mushrooms and ground beef congee.

The bargain multi-course dinner is sold at low margins so it may not make Banh poor, but it won’t make him rich, either.

“I’ll probably make very little profit,” Banh said. “This is about proving a point. Very few people know about Vietnamese cuisine. I am on a mission to make certain parts of Vietnamese cuisine famous.

“You cannot eat a better seven-course beef dinner anywhere other than Monsoon.”