Robert Lam ‘96

Chef, Lily | San Francisco, CA

Robert Lam ‘96 is the executive chef of Lily in San Francisco and chef-owner of Perle in Oakland, CA. The Vietnam born Lam came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1975 after the fall of Saigon and settled into what is now Little Saigon in Westminster, California. He grew up in a restaurant family who owned and operated a deli called Vien Dong for over 30 years and then in “retirement” ran Lee’s Sandwich shop in Huntington Beach, California. A graduate of the University of San Francisco, he received a bachelor’s degree in history in 1994. During that time he also staged at Jeremiah Towers’ iconic restaurant, Stars. He then attended The Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park, New York, and after graduation moved back to California, where he took on a post-graduate fellowship with the CIA at Greystone in St. Helena. Chef Lam calls what he does “Asian-inspired delicious," pulling from the culinary traditions of Vietnam, Thailand, China, Japan, and Korea and he cites as influences, cooking in season and his mother’s cooking. He has been an executive chef for over 20 years, was named a “Rising Star Chef” by the San Francisco Chronicle in January 2003, and led acclaimed Bay Area restaurants Butterfly, Sammy’s Aloha, and the restaurant and lounge, Eastside West.