Zen Modern Asian Bistro <\/a>in Del Mar’s Sky Deck, Henry Yang is serving up stories of his family’s history. A first-generation father at the stove, sons by his side, recipes repeated until they become ritual.<\/p>\nIt’s in the name \u2014 a little zen in the chaos of the kitchen, a balance between old school dishes and modern aesthetics.<\/p>\n
“So Zen Modern Asian is a family owned restaurant, very family oriented. Our food is Taiwanese, Cantonese, a little bit of everything put together \u2014 it’s what we grew up eating,” said Ethan Yang.<\/p>\n
For the Yangs, it’s a family affair.<\/p>\n
“So my dad taught me everything in the kitchen. He runs all the kitchen operations, my brother runs the front of the house. We were always running around in the kitchen,” Ethan Yang said.<\/p>\n
For Lunar New Year, food is more than filling \u2014 it’s a language of luck.<\/p>\n
“Food is one of those things that give happiness, get people together. When you eat wontons it means money, noodles for longevity, fish for prosperity,” Ethan Yang said.<\/p>\n
Here’s what some of these dishes symbolize:<\/p>\n
Longevity noodles\u00a0for long lifeWontons\u00a0symbolize wealthDumplings and potstickers\u00a0represent good fortune and family unitySpring rolls\u00a0signify prosperity<\/p>\n
With each meal, a message \u2014 served family style.<\/p>\n
“It’s all about family. We might work together and bicker, but after the rush we sit down and enjoy it together,” Ethan Yang said.<\/p>\n
Lunar New Year reminds us that tradition tastes best when it’s shared.<\/p>\n
Available February 17\u201323, Zen\u2019s Lunar New Year menu offers several options for families to enjoy. You can find them here<\/a>. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DEL MAR (KGTV) \u2014 Lunar New Year celebrations are underway across San Diego, and for many families the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189113,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[12629,11027,8504,88829,61032,88828,74,76,75,88827],"class_list":{"0":"post-189112","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-asian","9":"tag-carmel-valley","10":"tag-del-mar","11":"tag-firehorse","12":"tag-lunar-new-year","13":"tag-modern","14":"tag-san-diego","15":"tag-san-diego-headlines","16":"tag-san-diego-news","17":"tag-zen"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}