Today we’d like to introduce you to Danielle Dang.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
What a long strange trip it’s been. My husband and business partner Chef Thai Dang and I met over 10 years ago. I was an Architect working in the Washington D.C. area while Thai was a cook at a fine dining restaurant in the downtown Mandarin Oriental hotel. We met at a difficult time in my life. My mother had lost a long battle with alcoholism/cirrhosis to the liver and died shortly after Thai and I started dating. It was just after that he was offered a position to work for Chef Laurent Gras of L20 in Chicago. It was time for a change and I jumped on the opportunity to pack up my life and try to start again.
After 13 (successful) years of Architecture, designing and building custom homes, I decided I needed a break and took a job at a luxury hotel in Downtown Chicago. I focused on the bar and beverage program and became a professional bartender in no time. I studied every bottle on that back bar, looked up everything I could on each product and learned how to incorporate the spirits in at least one cocktail per night. This was my start as a professional in the food and beverage world. The ironic thing is that I believe my experience with my mother’s alcohol addiction was in part reason why I adapted to the beverage world so quickly. I was finally in control of the alcohol.
A couple years after working in the hotel, Thai and I opened our first restaurant Embeya on Randolph St. in the West Loop. I opened a beautiful beverage program to compliment Thai’s progressive take on Southeast Asian cuisine. We shot right to the top! We were named Best New Restaurant by Esquire, Thai was nominated for Food & Wine awards two years in a row and I too achieved mention and accolades from many outlets and publications.
Embeya was, however, short-lived. There have been articles written all across the United States noting many details of lies, theft, and deceit by our once business partners, husband and wife team Attila Gyulai and Komal Patel. I discovered very early on that they had been stealing millions of dollars from the business. Once we broke the case wide open, Attila and his wife Komal cleaned out the rest of the bank accounts, sold everything they could and fled the county. It is an unbelievable story of greed and they are now, in fact, on the run and wanted by the FBI.
This was a crucial turning point for us. In the end, we nearly lost everything from our homes to our business to our bank accounts.
I combed through every statement, every transaction, every step our partners made, I retraced them over and over looking for truths and wondering how people could be so calculated and cruel to us when we brought them financing and award winning product.
I remember looking at Thai and knowing we had to rebuild. We knew we had to do it bigger and better than before. We couldn’t pack up and leave Chicago. We had to hold our heads high and do what we knew was right.
While we were left with nothing but two pennies, we chose to hope. Our drive and talents made us forge on. I knew already that the next day will come and it is a new opportunity to make right everything that was wrong the day before.
I was not going to let this break me and neither was my husband. And so we pushed. We opened HaiSous Vietnamese Restaurant in June 2017 in Pilsen. We named our restaurant HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen, which translates to two pennies in Vietnamese. So far, we have been nominated for a James Beard award, received a Bib Gourmand from Michelin and plan to only grow from here.
And hope there was.
I was the Architect, Designer, and General Contractor of our restaurants and specified every piece of steel, every sheet of drywall and every nail used to build out our new space. I am now the Director of Operations for both HaiSous and our sister restaurant and all day cafe, Ca Phe Da (connected to HaiSous). I am so proud that with this small success so far, we saved our family.
My joy now is to see our staff grow with us, and my husband to have a platform again to showcase his talents, and for all the old food fans that continued to support us.
Through it all, we have so much to be thankful for. We get to move forward, together. There is so much joy in that.
Has it been a smooth road?
Life is so full of struggle. I don’t believe that you get to a certain point and realize all that there is to realize about life or self. That is lesson number one. NO ONE has all the answers and it is ok to work out your own answers as you go. I have many young women who work for me and I take the responsibility to build their spirits rather than break them very seriously. My obstacles in business and life have been my drive to become better at all I do and I encourage my team to do the same. It is important that they value themselves, think of all the things they want to achieve in life and start chipping away at their goals. I teach them to take all that ails them before and outside of work and channel that energy into becoming better at their craft and profession, rather than let their problems determine who they are. It is also important for women to forgive themselves for mistakes and allow those mistakes to be lessons to grow from.
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into HaiSous Vietnamese Kitchen story. Tell us more about the business.
My life experiences set me apart from others and allow me room to be a better leader. I was the Architect and General Contractor for our two restaurants and as the Director of HaiSous and Ca Phe Da, I am in charge of running the business, cutting the checks, directing service and driving guest relations and hospitality. There is no position that I can not or will not work. It is important to show the staff that I would never ask them to do something that I couldn’t or wouldn’t do. If the trash needs to go out, I will take it, no matter if I am in heels or not. I will wash dishes, open the restaurant, close the restaurant, and wear any hat needed at the moment. I believe that these are the things that set true leaders apart from the rest.
Who do you look up to? How have they inspired you?
My grandmother is an unbelievable strength in my life and always has been. She is liberal, loving, and taught me so many life values that I release back into the world now as an adult. I am eternally grateful for her knowledge and influence.
I am also inspired by my mentor in the restaurant world, Ina Pinkney. She lent an ear, gave great advice, and her warm hugs have helped me through many hard times along the path to where I am now. I am so fortunate to have her in my life as a friend and family.
Contact Info:
- Address: HaiSous Vietnamese Restaurant & Cà Phê Đá Vietnamese Cafe
1800 S. Carpenter Street, Chicago, Illinois 60608 - Website: www.haisous.com
- Phone: 312-702-1303
- Email: hello@haisous.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/haisouschicago/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HaiSous/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/HaiSous
Image Credit:
Interiors: Jason Little
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