My wife and I always had our foot in the door of the restaurant business. We both worked in restaurants, from being part of the wait staff to preparations in the kitchen. Being raised in New Orleans, Louisiana but a native from Vietnam, we were exposed to an array of bold flavors- from fish sauce to Cajun spices. We never envisioned that one day we would share our lifetime experience as restaurant owners.

The desire and motivation to start our venture as restaurant owners was inspired over a dinner prepared by us for our friends in Seattle, Washington. “Ya’ll should open a restaurant!” What seems to be that ordinary complement from our friend, but it wasn’t so ordinary after all. Three months later we opened our first restaurant, “Yummie Pho”. It was the first and only restaurant serving Vietnamese cuisine in the Tri-City area. It was a dream come true for us! People raved about our dishes, especially our specialty, Pho – tender beef, chicken, or vegetable noodle soup served with fresh bean sprouts, basil, and a wedge of lime.

Our business grew successfully over the two years that we were open, but there was a missing ingredient in our selection. We craved the nostalgic Cajun flavor from our hometown of New Orleans, LA. Cajun cuisine was our missing ingredient! We were determined to create a fusion of Asian-Cajun cuisine.

Now, a residence of Austin, TX, we would like to share the extension of our Asian-Cajun creation with southern hospitality at "Hot Boiled Pho and Crawfish."