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Meet the chef: Eleven’s Dao Le talks heritage, baseball and Gordon Ramsay

Chef Dao Le plates a filet cooked by a sous vide machine at Eleven restaurant in the DoubleTree hotel on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. A sous vide machine heats water to cook vacuum-sealed food to precise temperatures.
Chef Dao Le plates a filet cooked by a sous vide machine at Eleven restaurant in the DoubleTree hotel on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. A sous vide machine heats water to cook vacuum-sealed food to precise temperatures. Chef Dao Le plates a filet cooked by a sous vide machine at Eleven restaurant in the DoubleTree hotel on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, in Chattanooga, Tenn. A sous vide machine heats water to cook vacuum-sealed food to precise temperatures.

By Anne Braly 6 min read

photo Chef Dao Le

Dao Le credits his family heritage for instilling his love of food. Originally from Vietnam, he moved with his parents to the United States when he was a year old and has lived in Chattanooga most of his life. Le is now executive chef at Eleven at DoubleTree Hotel.

“With my heritage and family back in Vietnam, cooking is a huge part of our culture,” he says. “My mom cooks daily and stays true to traditional Vietnamese cuisine. And my dad used to be a baker in the Navy.”

Though the foundation for his culinary interests began at home, he continued his education at Johnson & Wales University College of Culinary Arts, Miami campus, then worked in restaurants in Florida, Pennsylvania, California and Ohio before returning to Chattanooga. Le has been at the DoubleTree since it opened in February 2016.

Q: What was your first restaurant job?

A: It was at Mandarin Garden Chinese Restaurant in Hixson when I was 15. I was a busboy and sometimes got to go in the kitchen and watch the chefs cook. They let me help cook some items when it wasn’t too busy.