Rural New Hampshire might seem an unlikely place to find one of New York City's premier chefs.
But David Lin, former executive chef at midtown Manhattan's upscale Shun Lee Palace, recently accepted a job at Mrs. Ou's restaurant on South Main Street in Hanover.
Emily Ou said Lin, who was educated in Hong Kong and immigrated to the U.S. in 1973, has sterling qualifications.
"He was executive chef at New York's best Chinese restaurant," Ou said. "It is very upscale and very nice."
"If you are in the business, you would know his name immediately if you were looking for a top Chinese chef," Ou said.
The Shun Lee Palace is "an elaborate, elegant Midtown classic. It still serves the same excellent Chinese food that keeps it our surveyors' favorite Manhattan Chinese," according to Zagat's Dining Guide.
"You'd have to go to China to top it, and if you pay a premium, at least you know you've had the best," according to the Zagat guide.
Speaking through his English-speaking son, Lin said he has been featured twice in The New York Times.
But Lin remains humble about his accomplishments.
"I live by a Chinese saying," he said. "No matter how good you are, there is always someone better than you."
"I am not the best, but I am not the worst," he said.
Ou said Lin has special skills which are rare among most Chinese chefs.
"One thing he can do which is very rare is make pasta by hand," she said. "There are very few people in the U.S. who can do that."
But Manhattan food consultant Gloria Chu, who works as an advisor to New York City chefs, said Lin's greatest strength is his ability to prepare food from the different regions of China.
Chu, who helped bring Lin to Hanover, called him a "multi-cuisine chef," listing Cantonese, Beijing and Shun Hi food preparation among his areas of expertise.
Ou said, "A lot of people do just Cantonese, and some people claim to be this and that. But he has been trained in all different regions of Chinese cooking."
"We have a lot of Chinese, oriental clients who ask specifically for certain dishes, and he can do it," she said. "Chinese food can be very generic or it can be very diverse. Most of our customers are people who know Chinese food very well."
Ou said it is difficult to convince the best chefs to leave New York City. It is even more difficult to recruit them to small towns.
"It is very tough to find people who will come up to this area," she said.
Ou said the restaurant offered Lin a very competitive salary. And she said a current Mrs. Ou's chef, a former student of Lin, may have helped convince him to come to Hanover.
"I am sure it is partially the money and partially the fact that this other person and [Chu] wanted him to come here," she said.
But Lin said he was attracted by Hanover's atmosphere.
"I didn't like the city that much," he said. "I wanted to have a change of environment. I wanted a change of scenery."
Ou said Lin's work environment may improve in Hanover.
"If you are here you have certain opportunities, because [in New York] you have a boss breathing down your back and 200 employees," she said. "Here we are flexible with what they can do. We are very flexible to work with."
Chu said Lin's resume is not limited just to Shun Lee Palace.
Lin was head chef at Manhattan's Fu's restaurant, which was ranked by Connoisseur magazine as one of the world's 30 best restaurants, Chu said.
Chu, who has become a friend of Lin's said she hopes Lin's 13-year-old daughter and 17-year-old son will thrive in Hanover.
"I am hoping if it works out he will move up there with his two kids and get them out of Chinatown," he said.
"I hope they will someday go to Dartmouth," she said. "That is my dream for them."
Chu said Mrs. Ou's has hired her to update the menu to Lin's skills and the market's needs.
"Chow mein and chop-suey are things of the past," she said. "You are not cooking for Hanover. You are cooking for students all over the country."
"I had to come up and do research on the area's needs," she said. "You have to cater to the young generation."
"We are trying to introduce some light cooking, oil free things," she said. "We're going to add some spa cuisine."
She said the menu will include more steamed, poached and grilled food.
