A PBS staple, Celebrity Chef Martin Yan has entertained and educated millions of people across the planet for more than 40 years through his television series Yan Can Cook.

Now the 73 year old is bringing his talents and expertise to Las Vegas with a brand new restaurant.

And this week for Nevada Week In person, we caught up with Chef Yan as he took part in the Vegas PBS virtual cooking event The Great Vegas Recipe.

♪♪♪ -Support for Nevada Week In Person is provided by Senator William H. Hernstadt and additional supporting sponsors.

(Amber Renee Dixon) You are set to open your very first Las Vegas Strip restaurant in the fall of this year, M.Y.

Asia.

Why is it your first and why now?

(Martin Yan) Well, for the longest time for years when I do the Yan Can Cook show on PBS, we travel, roaming around the world, and I spend about 275 days a year, around.

So if I open a restaurant, if I'm not able to spend more time in the kitchen taking care of the menu and creating something new and say hello to the customer, I shouldn't be doing it.

But now, I no longer travel like I used to.

My wife said stay put.

And in fact, I'm calling my wife and would move to Las Vegas.

-Oh.

Are you being serious?

-I'm serious.

I told them, I said let us sell the house.

And if we sell our house over there, we can buy two houses in Las Vegas.

-Well, it's very true if you're moving from California.

-Of course not-- definitely not Celine Dion's house, but some house.

This is the reason why a lot of my friends are moving to Las Vegas.

Because you've got wonderful people, good entertainment.

Everything is available, but it's affordable.

That's the reason why everybody moves to Las Vegas.

-And perhaps you could be Celine Dion's neighbor.

-Yeah.

The sports teams are moving to Vegas, and everybody is moving there.

So I want everybody.

I want M.Y.

China to be packed day in and day out because we want to entertain them with food and wonderful flavor and aroma.

-And from what I understand, it was the Coronavirus pandemic that kind of gave you a pause from all that traveling and is when you decided okay, maybe I should open this Vegas restaurant.

Talking about M.Y.

China in San Francisco, was COVID why that closed down?

-Well, we closed temporarily, but we will be reopening in Chinatown.

And hopefully one day we will open M.Y.

China right here in Vegas very soon.

-Okay.

So that is breaking news.

You're going to reopen M.Y.

China in San Francisco?

-Yes.

-Any idea when?

-Probably in the late fall.

The reason is because we're on the fourth floor.

-Okay.

-And then during the lockdown, nobody could go up to the fourth floor.

We could not do takeout.

We could not do a lot of things.

But now in Vegas, we can do everything we want because Las Vegas is wide open.

Everybody from around the world comes to Las Vegas.

So that's why if everybody's coming over here, I will be here to entertain all of you to come to Las Vegas.

-How is M.Y.

Asia going to differ from M.Y.

China, and how will the restaurant be different from all competition on the Strip?

-Well, they are all my good friends.

I just tell all my good friends, like Bobby Flay and Emeril and all of these people, give me a break, okay?

Take about three days off a week.

So allow me the space and the opportunity to capture some of your audience and your customers.

But anyway, they're all my good friends.

-Oh, I'll bet they're a little intimidated by you coming here.

-No.

Nobody got intimidated, until I picked up one of these anyway.

(laughter) -From what I understand, you're going to be putting on a little bit of a show though.

-Yes.

You know, I love entertainment.

I've been teaching cooking class-- I always help people.

You know food is basically entertainment.

Food is art, it's magic, but also food is entertainment.

I want to entertain people with good food, wonderful service, and wonderful energy.

I want to create something that people return to their home and remember they have eaten at M.Y.

Asia.

-So an open kitchen.

And you're going to be doing what kind of performing as you cook?

-I will show everybody.

I am training all my chefs how to bone a chicken, break down a chicken in 18 seconds.

-You still do that?

-I want to challenge some of my good friends on the strip.

Can you bone a chicken in 18 seconds?

I practice every night.

In fact, I came over here and I stayed at Paris.

And I actually bought a whole bunch of chicken last night, and I practiced.

If you don't believe me, you go to my room and check it out.

I've got a lot of chicken carcasses in my suitcase.

But anyway, I'm just joking.

But the thing is, food is about entertainment.

Food is about not only nourishing, but about bringing people closer together.

Food breaks down barriers.

-Congratulations on that restaurant opening and also on the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award which you received.

-Yeah.

Right here.

-Where is your metal?

-This is the metal right here.

-You received it this month-- -Yeah, just a few days ago.

- --in recognition of a lifetime of work that, quote, had a positive and long lasting impact on the way we eat, cook, and/or think about food in America, end quote.

You were born in China, emigrated to Canada and then the United States.

What does it mean to you to know you've had that kind of impact on this country?

-Well, food has no national or international boundary.

Food brings everybody together.

It breaks down barriers, is the equalizer.

So I'm so fortunate that through food I can reach a lot of people, millions and millions of people around the world.

And people from all over--from Dubai, from India, from England--come up and say, oh, I watched you when I was young when I was growing up.

I told them, when you were young I was also very young.

And we all grew up together.

-Right.

-Yes.

-Speaking about your roots in food and someone achieving success, we often hear about hunger and how hungry a person is to achieve something.

And that's referencing how much they really want it.

But in your case, in China as a child, hunger and famine and starvation were an issue.

What do you remember of China as a child?

How did it impact you?

-When I was growing up, it was the most turbulent, the most challenging time in modern Chinese history.

A lot of feminine.

A lot of people died of starvation.

Everything was rationed.

We literally had a quarter of a cup of oil a month per person.

An entire month, one quarter of a cup and two pounds of meat.

So that's why-- I'm supposed to be this tall, but because when I was growing up I didn't have enough protein.

And now actually, that's the reason why I put on high heeled shoes here, so I look just as tall as you.

-Well-- -Actually, this is my height.

(laughter) But anyway, the thing is, I always believe food is the most important equalizer that brings all of us together.

Today is a classic example.

I work with all the wonderful young students, young chefs all over the world.

And this way it gives me the opportunity.

Not only I can share with them my passion and my skill, but also can learn from them.

-And it was that need though for food that helped you determine, I want to make sure I have access to food and am involved in that industry?

-Yeah.

When you are close to food, you never go hungry.

I'll be ready.

I'm happy to just work in the restaurant just to have food, but people insist to pay me, so I can't say-- You know, you got to be polite.

When people give you something, you take it graciously.

So when you offer me, I will take it.

But the thing is I personally, I love food.

I love to cook.

I love to share.

Food is about sharing.

-And educating.

-Yeah.

-And when you first started cooking in the United States on television in the early 1980s, how familiar did you find Americans were with Chinese food and Asian food?

-I remember when I first arrived in America, there were only about 2 or 3,000 Chinese restaurants.

Now the last count, 52,000 Chinese restaurants and probably half of them in Las Vegas.

I mean, there are so many Chinese and Asian restaurants.

You've got Thai restaurants, Cambodian restaurants, Indian restaurants, Filipino restaurants, a lot of Chinese restaurants.

So I think it's become a main staple, a main diet.

Everybody goes to Asian restaurants, Chinese restaurants.

I love Italian food.

I love Japanese food.

I love a Hispanic Mexican food.

I love to taste everything because every time I taste something, I learn.

-When you talk about the growth of Asian restaurants in the U.S., how much do you think you played a part in that?

-I have no idea.

When you travel around the country, you see about 3 or 4,000 Chinese restaurants with my picture on the wall.

So you go in, you say Oh, I'm Chef Martin's cousin.

You know what?

50% off.

(laughter) I'm just joking.

But the thing is, I have traveled all over.

A lot of times I will go into the restaurant and I cook with the chef.

And then I will take a picture, and they put it on a wall.

So every time I go there, free meal.

So I hope I put my picture in every single celebrity's restaurant, and then when I walk in, I don't have to pay.

-If you think about the idea that because you have educated so many Americans about food and thus culture, perhaps promoting acceptance and tolerance of the Asian culture, do you believe that you have helped in that aspect?

And then-- Well, answer that first.

-I hope so.

Because as I said, food has no national or international boundary.

The more people understand, through food we understand each other's culture, heritage, and lifestyle.

Then we accept each other.

We respect each other.

Because when you know somebody, just like your neighbor, you don't know your neighbor.

You don't know how to get closer to them.

But once you get to know them, then you become good friends.

And I hope through food, we bring all the people that I reach, all the people I touch, bring them together for delicious food, healthy, delicious, fresh food.

-Because of how high profile you are and well known you are, what kind of responsibility did you feel, if any, when there was a rise in anti Asian sentiment because of COVID?

-I truly believe-- -To help in combating it.

-Right.

To combat that, first of all, I raised my words and tell them hey, look, first of all, this country is a melting pot.

People are from all over the world together here.

There's very few native people, except the Native Americans, right?

Indians.

They were here first, but everybody else came from all over the world.

And let us learn to respect and accept each other.

And food is about sharing.

So through food, I tell people hey, look, I use food.

I use a cheese.

I use all kinds of ingredients.

Let us sit down at the dining table.

We never fight; we're all friends.

-As part of the Great Vegas Recipe you have been showing and teaching these Clark County School District students a lot.

What do you hope they take away most from their interactions with you?

-Well, food is about love and passion.

Just like any profession, if you love what you do, you're passionate about it, you will have a great career.

That's the reason why I always encourage and also remind everybody with a slogan: If Yan can cook, so can you.

To all the young students, to all the young chefs, if I can do it, you can do it.

-What are the ingredients of a good chef?

Last question.

-The last question is, the ingredient is always be curious.

Very important.

And I always am curious.

Always never stop learning.

I always want to find out a new flavor, a new ingredient.

Like today, I learned from Manny something I normally don't use.

So I'm learning from everybody.

I'm learning from them too.

We're all exchanging.

We all communicate, we all improve.

We all elevate ourselves in terms of as a professional.

-Chef Martin Yan, thank you so much for your time.

And I'm looking forward to you perhaps moving to Las Vegas in addition to opening that new restaurant.

-Right after this, I'm going to call my wife and say I have made up my mind.

We gotta move here.

-You're going to have realtors after you.

All right.

Thank you again.

To see the entire Great Vegas Recipe digital series, go to our website vegaspbs.org/greatvegasrecipe.

And as always, thank you for joining us for Nevada Week In Person.

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