Charles Wong
Umamicue | Chicago
SEPTEMBER 2024
Charles Wong’s interest in cooking began in college. When he graduated and started working in finance, his passion for food simmered on the back burner. In 2014, Wong took a trip down to Austin and became obsessed with barbecue after tasting the brisket at Rising Stars alum Aaron Franklin’s Franklin Barbecue. There was nothing like it in Chicago. So, when Wong returned to the Windy City, he bought a cheap grill from Costco, taught himself to barbecue through YouTube videos, and started cooking for his friends and family. By 2016, he secured an LLC for his side business, landed his first catering gig, and started to invest in better equipment all while continuing to work his nine-to-five.
In late 2019, however, Wong was sitting at his desk when chest pains convinced him he was having a heart attack. When the doctors told him the feeling stemmed from overwhelming stress, he returned to work, gave his three months notice, and committed to barbecue. In February 2020, right before the pandemic shut him down, Wong held his first pop-up at Chef Andrew Lim’s Perilla and completely sold out. When restaurants started to open up, he brought back his pop-up and took his barbecue to breweries across the city while generating buzz through social media and word of mouth. Wong began his permanent residency, Umamicue, at Spilt Milk in Logan Square in 2023 and expanded to their sister bar, Little Victories, in June 2024. On each of the menus, Wong expresses his love of Texas barbecue technique and pays homage to Asian flavors through dishes like his barbecue platter, which comes with smoked brisket, burnt ends, and crispy Duroc pork belly, as well as smashed cucumbers, nước chấm potato salad, pickled carrots and daikon, and Umamicue barbecue sauce.
