“You get hungry every day, so you might as well film it.”
That’s the attitude of Mike Chen, whose full-time job is to post videos on YouTube from his food adventures all over the world. His videos — many that eclipse 1 million views each — will highlight Dallas-area business more than ever, now that Chen has relocated from Seattle to the Dallas suburb of Allen.
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Chen moved to Texas in part because he found an apartment that was half the price of his place in Washington state. But also, he’s working on opening a Korean steakhouse named Carne in Houston. Eventually, Chen hopes Carne will expand to several locations in Texas, including in Dallas.
Chen says Houston is a great food city and he considered moving there, but he doesn’t like the weather. “I fear humidity,” he says in his matter-of-fact way. It’s a trait his 5 million YouTube subscribers surely like.
“I don’t like the idea of walking outside and feeling like I’m in a steam bath. I figured Dallas would be the better option.
“And here I am.”
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Chen was born in Xi’an, China, then moved to the United States when he was 8 years old. They lived all over the U.S., mostly in the Midwest, as his parents opened and closed Chinese buffets.
“I was working [in restaurants] since I was able to hold a plate without breaking it,” he says. “My whole life was spent in restaurants. Growing up around a buffet, I think that’s what helped build up my appetite.”
And it’s a serious appetite, y’all: He has two main YouTube channels, Strictly Dumpling and MikeyChenX, and he posts about four videos a week.
Here’s an edited chat with Chen about his move to Dallas and his love for food:
We know you’re a professional eater. Do you cook, too?
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Mike Chen: I consider myself a very good cook. With the caveat being, the food I cook will never look good. But I guarantee it will taste good! … I could never be on, like, Chopped or something, because they’re going to reject my plate right away. … But I love making things from scratch. My best dish right now is my homemade noodles, which I think is restaurant quality.
I do have a cooking show that I want to focus more of my attention on. [Find it on YouTube — it’s called Cook with Mikey.]
One thing I love to feature is different cultural recipes. … The best way to experience a different culture is, really, to take a bite out of it.
How do you decide which restaurants to visit and feature on YouTube?
It’s pretty random. I don’t know what people do for fun, but I’m sort of a food nerd, so when I’m not doing anything else, I’m on Google, searching around for food. … I want to find these hole-in-the-wall places. This is a tip I have for people: You can actually Google “hole-in-the-wall.” Or Google the term “hidden gems.” Usually people don’t Google terms like that, they Google “best steak” or something.
I do get a lot of restaurants messaging me, asking me to come in. It’s hard to get to everybody.
Do your videos bring more business to the restaurants featured?
I definitely know that it helps … I remember finally going out [during the pandemic, to a place called Northern Dumpling in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland]. I went to a dumpling place and was eating on the hood of my car. I started a series called Eating on the Hood. … A week later, the owner messaged me and said, “Thank you so much, my wife was pregnant and we were about to shut down the restaurant.”
I always knew these videos help restaurant owners, but especially now, it could be a lifeline between survival or potentially having to close a business.
Do you tell restaurants before you show up for a video?
No, I don’t. And the reason I don’t is because I don’t want any special treatment. I don’t want them to do something different. I want to experience what somebody would typically experience in a restaurant.
I definitely don’t want anyone making a fuss over me. I just want to be a regular, paying customer.
What did you do before you were a YouTube vlogger?
When I graduated from college, I was working at a non-profit. I was really keen on helping bring awareness to human rights violations happening inside China. … That’s something I’m really passionate about. But I wasn’t making any money. So I was filming weddings to make ends meet, for $200 a day or someth
ing … living in a basement in Brooklyn.
That’s why I know a lot of the cheap eats in New York; I didn’t really have any money. How can I stretch $5 into a whole day’s meal?
I’ve only been here for a couple of weeks, so I’m still just scratching the surface. I’m really looking to try out more Tex-Mex.
There’s a huge Korean community here, a huge Vietnamese community here. I had Pho Pasteur [in Carrollton] and think they have the best broth I might have ever had.
What’s your most memorable YouTube video?
I really like the video I filmed in Japan. … I went [to a ramen shop] and waited for 5 hours. … I live for that stuff. I don’t care how long the wait is: If it’s good, I want to wait and experience all of it. That video was tremendously memorable because it’s in a city called Chiba, 40 minutes outside of Tokyo. I got there at 7 or 8 a.m. … The whole mealtime lasted, like, 15 minutes. The chef is very: Eat your food and get out.
All you hear is slurping. It’s so good that no one wants to talk. But I had to talk [for the YouTube video], so I’m trying to talk without being disruptive. It was just mind-blowingly good.