Duy Nguyen

The Work Today

Early work as chef at Little Bear in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam gave Duy Nguyen a setting where pace, pressure, and the daily realities of service sharpened the craft. That post established a working foundation for later roles: not just a title on a résumé, but a place where instinct had to be tested against repetition, precision, and the demands of a fast city. Today, Duy Nguyen is Executive Chef of Locanda Cacciatori, carrying a Vietnamese base into a different kitchen without losing the underlying focus on technique. The continuity is in the approach: a chef committed to the mechanics of the work, and equally attentive to the dishes and traditions that continue to shape the palate. Vietnamese cuisine remains the center of the practice, but the scope is broader than a single regional frame. The work suggests a cook who studies the field rather than simply repeating it, building depth through curiosity and keeping flavor, heritage, and technique in active conversation.

In Their Words “Vietnamese cuisine is my passion, and I was eager to learn more about it from Chef Vince Nguyen in Portland, Oregon through the Ment’or grant stage.” The value here is not sentiment but apprenticeship-by-study: Vietnamese cuisine as a subject to be pursued, not merely claimed. In Portland, Oregon, through the Ment’or grant stage, Duy Nguyen used the opportunity to widen a working vocabulary around the cuisine, with Chef Vince Nguyen as the reference point statement. “He also runs a Vietnamese bakery, and I have a special love for Vietnamese pastry.” That line points directly to pastry as a serious part of the craft, where structure, texture, and restraint matter in equal measure. For Duy Nguyen, the bakery is part of the same field of knowledge as the savory kitchen: another place where Vietnamese technique can be studied through form, precision, and detail.

Acclaim

Duy's honors include MICHELIN Guide Young Chef Award (2024). The award sits cleanly alongside the rest of the record: a recognition of work already showing control, a strong technical base, and a clear relationship to Vietnamese culinary inheritance.