Ming Tsai was raised in Dayton, Ohio, where he spent hours cooking alongside his mother and father at their family-owned restaurant. With a passion for food even after earning his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Yale University, he spent time training in kitchens around the globe. In 1998, Ming opened Blue Ginger in Wellesley, Massachusetts, and impressed diners from Boston and beyond with the restaurant's innovative East/West cuisine. In its first year, Blue Ginger received three stars from the Boston Globe, was named "Best New Restaurant" by Boston magazine, was nominated by the James Beard Foundation as "Best New Restaurant 1998," and Esquire magazine honored Ming as "Chef of the Year 1998." In early 2013, Ming opened his second restaurant Blue Dragon - an Asian gastro pub located in the Four Point Channel area of Boston. The tapas-style menu features Ming's East-West approach but now takes a twist on traditional pub favorites. Blue Dragon was named one of Esquire Magazine's "Best New Restaurants 2013" and one of Zagat's "24 new restaurants you need to know about around the US". In addition to his work at Blue Ginger and on his public television series Simply Ming, Ming is also the author of three cookbooks: Blue Ginger: East-Meets-West Cooking with Ming Tsai, Simply Ming, and Ming's Master Recipes.