When the staff is like family, a restaurant always feels like home
Taylor Swift posters on the wall. Pokemon cards at the hostess’ stand.
No, it’s not a teenager’s bedroom. It’s Moon Rabbit, Chef Kevin Tien’s lauded Vietnamese-American restaurant in Washington, D.C. – and these quirky personal touches are a small part of Tien’s warm approach to hospitality, which puts community, authenticity and sense of family first.
Kevin Tien didn’t set out to be a chef. The Louisiana native was on track for a corporate career after earning his master’s at Louisiana State, his first restaurant gig just a way to pay the bills. But the camaraderie in the kitchen was unlike anything he’d experienced before.
“I moved around a lot as a kid and I didn't really have a core group of friends that I hung out with all the time,” he remembers. “And then when I started working in a restaurant, it was the first community that I really felt like I was a part of.”
For the first time, he was surrounded by others in the AAPI (Asian-American and Pacific Islander) community, learning from a group of sushi chefs who excelled at their craft.
“I constantly kept pushing myself and it was really exciting to be able to be creative and be right in front of guests and have that moment where you're building this bond,” he says.
There was no turning back. Tien worked his way up through restaurants in Texas and Louisiana with mentors like Jose Andres, David Chang and Tyson Cole, eventually landing in Washington, D.C.
Along the way he earned accolades from Food & Wine, the James Beard Foundation and countless “best of” lists, eventually opening his first restaurant in 2016.
Moon Rabbit, located in D.C.’s Chinatown, is authentically Tien. Rooted in his Vietnamese-American heritage, with Cajun influences from his Louisiana upbringing and inspiration from chefs he admires locally and across the globe, everything at Moon Rabbit is designed with intention – and personality.
“We're very unapologetically us,” he says. “We’re always finding ways to make this hospitality industry more fun and an experience for the guests.”
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“I moved around a lot as a kid and I didn't really have a core group of friends that I hung out with all the time,” he remembers. “And then when I started working in a restaurant, it was the first community that I really felt like I was a part of.”
Those Pokemon cards, for example, which are used in a sort of “luggage check” system for guests’ to-go bags, come from Tien’s nostalgic love for the cards. The restaurant stocks blankets to keep guests warm in chilly weather. A quail dish on the menu was inspired by a similar item at the Abita Brewing Company in Louisiana.
“We don't want to put a dish on just because it tastes good or has good technique, but there has to be some sort of connection between the dish we're putting on and us as the chef.”
When guests visit his restaurant, he hopes they’ll enjoy his innovative take on Viet-Cajun cuisine. But more importantly, he hopes they feel a sense of connection to the food, the staff and the atmosphere.
“We have a space where we allow everyone to really be themselves but also be very professional at the same time,” he says. “And I think you can really, really feel that when you come dine.”
Tien’s connection to the community doesn’t stop at the restaurant’s doors. He’s one of the founders of Chefs Stopping AAPI Hate, an organization that raises money to support Asian-American and Pacific Islanders with collaboration dinners, fundraisers and more.
Currently, he’s working to get a grocery built in his Chinatown neighborhood, bringing the aging population there access to fresh meat and produce.
Inside the restaurant, he’s working to push the culture and cuisine forward, elevating Vietnamese food beyond pho and banh mi and evolving the menu. “You always aspire to be better,” he says. “What can I do different today that makes me happier tomorrow and makes my guests happier tomorrow?”
What makes Tien most happy is working with a supportive team, just like he did at his first job years ago. Even on the restaurant’s busiest nights, Tien finds joy in the one-of-a-kind experience of being a part of a kitchen crew – what he considers his second family.
“I love cooking. But I think what makes me really happy goes back to why I stayed in restaurants instead of staying in a 9-to-5: I like working with everyone in this building.”
“The team really fuels my passion every day,” he says. “They’re the reason I do this.”
