Chef Biography
James Liou was born in Taiwan in 1953. In 1970, he trained under a Master Hunan Chef from China, then apprenticed in several hotels in Taiwan over the next few years, where he became the favorite chef of the Vice President of Taiwan. In 1981, he moved to Costa Rica to become the executive chef of the Taiwan Ambassador to Costa Rica.
In 1987, he joined Great Chef Larry Chu in Los Altos, California as chef de cuisine and later, executive chef. It was in 1994 that Great Chefs taped Chef Liou preparing Crispy Salmon Rolls for the Discovery Channel’s Great Chefs – Great Cities series.
After 15 years, he decided to leave Chef Chu’s in 2004 and open his own restaurant called Liou’s House in Milpitas, California, near San Francisco. That restaurant closed in 2007.