Celebrity chef Danny Bowien talks about pull of Oklahoma as he readies for OKC visit

Celebrity chef and author Danny Bowien will be in town from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday to sign copies of his new cookbook at Lee's Sandwiches.

A Westmoore High School graduate, Bowien built a global reputation as chef/partner of Mission Chinese in San Francisco and New York. Bowien closed the New York locations during the pandemic and redirected his energy into a new cookbook, "Mission Vegan" (Ecco).

The Korean-born chef, who was adopted and raised by a local family, fused global street flavors and filtered them through his rock and roll sensibility to earn a Best New Restaurant nod for Mission Chinese in 2011 and a James Beard Rising Star Award for himself in 2013.

Those accolades landed him regular segments on the "The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon" and as featured chef on Season Six of "The Mind of a Chef."

On Saturday, he'll be at Lee's Sandwiches, 3300 N Classen Blvd., signing copies of the new book, "Mission Vegan," and his first book, "The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook." Bowien said Lee's will offer an exclusive combo meal, featuring sauces from the cookbook.

"Lee's is putting together a vegan eggroll banh mi," he said. "I'm putting together some sauces like my white sesame sauce for the book. It's like a vegan mayo, and mayo is so key to banh mi."

Bowien said he'll have 100 copies of the new book to sign, plus copies of his first book. He said they'll also have a limited supply of the special Mission combo boxes and some other bites, like his tingly granola, and Mission Chinese merchandise.

"Mission Vegan" follows his first cookbook, "The Mission Chinese Food Cookbook," which he wrote with Chris Ying in 2015.

For the new book, Bowien said he hearkened often to Oklahoma.

"There is so much Oklahoma in this book. The whole time I was working on the new cookbook I was thinking about where I'd been and where I'm going," he said. "And you don't have to be vegan to enjoy it."

Bowien's rise to prominence was built on his elevation of street foods by mixing and matching quality ingredients and proven techniques. Bowien, who originally moved to San Francisco to pursue a career in music, has always been inspired by the food of the people.

"What Oklahoma does best is make food you want to eat," he said. "I love white tablecloth restaurants, but not everything has to be fussy or even innovative. I loved ordering from Del Rancho or Sonic with my friends or going to Chelino's with my family."

Bowien said he hopes to take his son, Mino, to the Oklahoma State Fair while he's in town.

"That played a role in choosing this weekend," he said. "Would love for him to experience the state fair."

Bowien said when he was in his late teens/early 20s in Oklahoma, his instinct was to get out as soon as possible, but ever since his recent 40th birthday that same instinct has inspired him to come back home.

"Really looking forward to coming home," he said. "I'm so proud to be from Oklahoma; it's a special place."

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Celebrity chef Danny Bowien comes home to visit OKC's Lee's Sandwiches