A Hit Taiwanese Ghost Kitchen Finds a Permanent Home in Rockville - Washingtonian

"Taiwanese Marylanders-or any regular explorers of the Rockville Pike food scene-will likely recognize most of the dishes on the menu at Bao Bei, though they're under new names. The Bao Bei Bao is a gua bao, a classic Taiwanese pork belly bun on a pillowy soft bao (here, it's also available with tofu). The Bao Bei Bowl is really lu rou fan, Taiwanese braised pork rice with mustard greens- you might have tried it at A&J or Taipei Cafe up the road. Sesame-and-scallion bread is something like shaobing."

""It's inspired by the food that my grandfather and my mom cooked for me," chef/owner Kevin Hsieh says. But also: "I'm pretty inspired by fast food, and the power of nostalgia that fast food chains brought me when I was a kid." Hsieh will open Bao Bei-originally a ghost kitchen-as a brick-and-mortar shop in Rockville's Montrose Crossing development on Wednesday, August 27."

"Hsieh was born and raised in Rockville, and eventually returned to the DMV through a job as a financial analyst for a defense and aerospace contractor, which he found too dull to handle: "I always felt this dread of boredom everyday that I went to work, regardless of how well work went." Coming from a family of chefs-Hsieh's father actually worked at Taipei Cafe, among many other eateries-food came naturally to him. So he decided to adapt the Taiwanese comfort foods of his youth into a fast casual concept. First, he ran Bao Bei as a stand at food festivals, before taking over a ghost kitchen space hidden in a Rockville warehouse. Hsieh eventually became a finalist on the 17th season of the Food Network's The Great Food Truck Race last year."

Kevin Hsieh, born and raised in Rockville, adapted Taiwanese comfort foods into a fast-casual concept called Bao Bei. The menu reinterprets classics: the Bao Bei Bao as gua bao with pork belly or tofu, the Bao Bei Bowl as lu rou fan with mustard greens, and sesame-and-scallion bread akin to shaobing. Hsieh cites family recipes and fast-food nostalgia as inspirations. Bao Bei began at food festivals, operated as a ghost kitchen, and will open a brick-and-mortar in Montrose Crossing on August 27. The menu also includes salads, brown sugar buns, and larger-format items, and Hsieh was a Great Food Truck Race finalist.

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