Shirley Chung: What Tongue Cancer Taught a Chef About Taste

Shirley Chung is a Top Chef finalist, French Laundry veteran and José Andrés darling. In 2024, she was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer, and it changed her life. Shirley talks about the diagnosis she almost missed, the treatment that saved her tongue, and what it felt like to slowly, painstakingly relearn how to taste. Along the way: an unlikely connection with Grant Achatz, who went through the same thing 19 years earlier and became her north star through the worst of it. She would go on to helm Night Rooster, her modern Chinese restaurant in Dallas, which she opened during recovery. Join Shirley and Kate for this incredibly inspiring story.

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