WELLESLEY MASS —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
At the same time, while Tsai says he is not interested in opening other fine-dining restaurants around the country, he allowed that his “bings” might form the basis of a future quick-service or fast-casual concept. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
Tsai reopened his popular East-West fusion-style restaurant here earlier this month to a packed house after nearly doubling its size to 6,900 square feet. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
“I’ve always wanted to expand here rather than open in Las Vegas,” said Tsai, who owns and operates the restaurant with his wife, Polly. “It’s a quality-of-life issue. I travel a good amount for the [television] show. But I have a family, and I want to enjoy it, too. And when I’m in the restaurant, I want to be in the restaurant.” —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
That fact hasn’t gone unnoticed by the famous chef’s guests. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
“Ming and Blue Ginger have become iconic,” said Frank Guidara, president and chief executive of Uno Chicago Grill, the 200-plus-unit casual-dining operator based in nearby West Roxbury, Mass. “Unlike many other chefs, he hasn’t chosen to expand and spread his name around the country. He has stayed focused on Blue Ginger, and it shows. It’s always great.” —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
John Mariani, the food and travel columnist for Esquire magazine, agreed. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
“It’s admirable that he hasn’t gone to Las Vegas with everyone else,” he said. “When he opened Blue Ginger, he was a real departure from what we knew about Asian and Chinese food at the time.” —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
Mariani named Blue Ginger one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants of 1998 and Ming Tsai Chef of the Year. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
Blue Ginger, which was expanded and redesigned by New York’s noted Rockwell Group, added three private dining rooms that can accommodate parties of up to 90. The revamped restaurant also allowed Tsai to debut a more relaxed 50-seat lounge that offers its own individual menu. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
The menu showcases a type of hand-held Chinese street food Tsai is introducing as Ming’s Bings. Alternately likening their shape to hamburgers and hockey pucks, Tsai said the bings essentially are his interpretation of the traditional Chinese dumplings he ate when he was growing up. The name derives from the Chinese term “xiar bing,” which translates to “stuffed or filled round cakes.” —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
A bing is prepared by rolling out thin rounds of flour-and-water dough, placing the filling in the center of the pancake and then sealing the dough. Next, it is seared on both sides in a specially designed griddle that has indentations built into it and which Tsai calls “the holy griddle.” Next water is poured into the indentation and a cover is placed on it, allowing the bing to steam. After a few minutes, the cover is removed and the bing is allowed to recrisp. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
Bings are served with Asian slaw, housemade pickles, a sweet-chile dipping sauce and romaine lettuce leaves that are wrapped around the dumpling, making them easier to hold. Side dishes also are available. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
The bings come with many fillings, including a traditional stuffing of ground pork, ginger and scallions. Other variations include a bacon cheeseburger bing, a wild-mushroom vegetarian bing and a shredded red roast duck bing that also can include foie gras mousse. They are priced at $10 each. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
Tsai said the bings would be served only in the lounge, which has been designed to attract a more casual guest than usually frequents his 120-seat main dining room. He plans to add several more small-plate dishes to the lounge menu but wants to keep the average per-person check in the neighborhood of $20, which will allow him to attract a less formal walk-in trade. By comparison, the standard Blue Ginger menu generates an average per-person check of about $60 to $65. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
Tsai also is considering decreasing the size of the bings and offering three per order instead of one. While he says his “plate is full” at the moment, he has considered the possibility of eventually creating a fast-food concept built around the bings. Noting that they could be prepared in a central commissary and then finished as ordered, the bings could be marketed in airports or ballparks. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
“There really isn’t any place here that sells good Asian fast food,” he said, “and even though this is a premature conversation, the thought is in the back of my head. It’s also not the kind of concept that I would have to visit all the time.” —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
In the meantime Tsai is focusing on the newly expanded Blue Ginger, which reopened to a 300-plus-person crowd May 10 following the completion of his $750,000 renovation and expansion. The expansion into the adjacent building, a former furniture store, began in January, although the restaurant was forced to close its doors only for 10 days just prior to the reopening. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
In addition to adding a new lounge and private dining space, the renovation added another state-of-the-art kitchen that will cater to the lounge and party business. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
“The new technology is fantastic,” Tsai said. —Ming Tsai, chef-host of the public-television cooking show “Simply Ming,” is looking to broaden the audience for his famed, 10-year-old restaurant, Blue Ginger, through its expansion to debut a more casual lounge area featuring hand-held specialties he calls “Ming’s Bings.”
