Profile

Tribeca gallerist Lan Tran Cao has dabbled in the culinary world—first in her native Vietnam, where she learned French patisserie, and then in Sydney, where she cooked in one Vietnamese restaurant and helped open another. Food and art are the best way to experience a culture, Cao believes, which is why she opened VietCafé next door to her Gallery Vietnam. She's imported the café's furniture from her homeland and assembled a team of French-trained chefs to prepare the bánh mì thit, bo bia, and pho bo she grew up with—freeing her to lead the occasional Chinatown shopping expedition and cooking class. — Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld