Taste Project’s Arlington restaurant was abuzz with anticipatory chatter last Friday over candle lit tables and yellow rose centerpieces. Hungry guests eagerly glanced over at the service window to see if their main course, pho-mole was ready to serve.
Celebrity chef Preston Nguyen measures the internal temperature of seared bison at the Taste Project in Arlington on Oct. 9, 2026. (Courtesy | Ross Reitzammer)
A burst of aromatic Mexican-Vietnamese fusion flavor filled the dining table as the dish reached the guests. The rich, velvety mole was lifted by the fresh herbs and pho spices, creating a complex flavor profile. Served atop the sauce was a juicy seared bison tenderloin topped with crema and sesame seeds. This is the winning dish that helped celebrity chef and Arlington native, Preston Nguyen, win his second World Food Championship title.
Preston Nguyen’s original Pho-Mole won him his second World Food Championship title. The dish was being served at the Taste Project in Arlington on Oct. 9, 2026. (Courtesy | Ross Reitzammer)
“My dad is Vietnamese and my mom is Mexican. And so just combining those two heritages while also growing up in Texas, it’s almost giving me a trifecta of different flavors and cooking techniques,” Nguyen said.
Local residents gathered to have a taste of 23-year-old Nguyen’s world-renowned cooking on Oct. 9 at the Taste Project, a pay-what-you-can nonprofit restaurant in Arlington. Nguyen offered a pop-up fall-inspired five course menu as part of the nonprofit’s Celebrity Chef Dinner Series. The money raised during this series funds Taste Project’s mission to fight food insecurity in the area.
All proceeds from the event go straight to the operations of the restaurant and help future customers pay for their meal. There are three more celebrity chefs like Nguyen who will also offer special pop-up dinners with their own fall-inspired menus to fundraise for the mission of Taste. Spots can be reserved on their website.
Nguyen, alongside his sous chefs and parents, Emma and Peter Nguyen, earned two World Food Champion titles. The accolade makes him both the youngest champion and first ever to earn two titles. Nguyen was also featured on Gordon Ramsay’s “Next Level Chef” at 19 years old. Today, he is the executive chef of The Vandy at Caravan Court Hotel, working on a new cookbook with his family recipes and continuing to cook with his parents and two younger siblings.
Preston Nguyen, 23, cooks alongside his sous chefs and parents, Emma and Peter Nguyen, at Taste Project in Arlington on Oct. 9, 2026. (Mica Magday | Fort Worth Report)
Emma and Preston Nguyen, mother and son, smile at Taste Project in Arlington on Oct. 9, 2026. (Mica Magday | Fort Worth Report)
“Everything I do in life comes down to my three core principles of my faith, my family and my food,” Nguyen said. “With my family, both of my grandparents were immigrants to the U.S. And just seeing how hard they worked to give me and my family a new chance of life really pushes me to take and run what they’ve given to me. Don’t just sit on it.”
Nguyen’s cooking has brought him to places like England, France and his mother’s hometown in Mexico to train and cook. After his travels, he returned to Arlington to bring the culinary skills he learned back home.
When Taste Project asked Nguyen to support their mission, Nguyen didn’t hesitate.
“I’m really excited to give back to the Arlington community that raised me,” Nguyen said. “I think it’s always important, giving back to where you came (from).”
All proceeds from this ticketed event funds the Taste Project’s mission to offer nutritious, high-quality meals with no prices on their menus. The Arlington location marks the nonprofit’s second location, with its original spot in Fort Worth. The pay-what-you-can-afford model is used to combat local hunger and food insecurity, according to the Taste Project website. Between the two restaurants, the Taste Project has served nearly 350,000 people.
“Food insecurity is not just the people you see living on the street. It’s elderly people that are on fixed incomes, it’s single parents,” said founder and Executive Director, Jeff Williams. “With the way the cost of living is, so many people are working from paycheck to paycheck, or they may even lose a job.”
Growing up with a family that experienced food insecurity, Williams hopes to offer a place that can provide some comfort and stability to those going through a difficult time. Both locations are open Wednesday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch.
One guest, DeVika Lyles, surprised her partner Victor Walker with the celebrity dinner. It was the duo’s first time supporting the restaurant from the client side. Lyles and her son are a part of the community of Taste Project volunteers who often give up their own time to help a neighbor.
DeVika Lyles and Victor Walker dig into their pho-mole, an award-winning dish cooked by celebrity chef Preston Nguyen on Oct. 9, 2026. (Mica Magday | Fort Worth Report)
“I absolutely love the mission of Taste. I sit at the community table,” Lyles said. “I have seen unhoused people, people get married, get divorced, have babies, all kinds of things through this work. I get to know them as human beings and not all the labels that people assign to them.”
Walker reiterated that while this is part of a special series, the restaurant always serves food that is refined and delicious.
“The food very much mirrors what they normally serve all the time,” Walker said. “Very nicely plated, very high-end beautiful things that have an excellent quality — and they bring this level of food to people who couldn’t afford it. It warms my heart.”
The atmosphere that Nguyen aimed to create for his guests that night mirrors the environment Williams hopes to create.
“I hope they forget about the worries of when they walked in,” Nguyen said. “When it comes to feeding people. I want them to enjoy the experience, forget about whatever’s going on at home or your work situation or whatever stresses they may have.”
Mica Magday is a reporting fellow for the Arlington Report. Contact her at mica.magday@fortworthreport.org.
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