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From Refugee Roots to Culinary Pioneer The Story Behind House 1830 in Rogers
Episode 332 • 20th October 2025 • I Am Northwest Arkansas® • Randy Wilburn
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About the Show:

"I don't need to be the best for two reasons. One is, we want to first reset what the standard taste and flavors and experience should be for Southeast Asian cuisine."

       – Binh Hoang

In this episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas®, host Randy Wilburn sits down with Binh Hoang, the visionary behind House 1830 in Downtown Rogers. Born in a Thai refugee camp to Vietnamese parents, Binh shares how his family’s story—and the broader Southeast Asian immigrant experience—inspired the mission, strategy, and storytelling behind House 1830.

While Binh focuses on the vision, historical context, and strategic direction of the restaurant, he credits his sister-in-law, Chef Be, as the Executive Chef and culinary force behind the menu. Together, they craft more than just food—they create immersive cultural experiences that educate, connect, and inspire the Northwest Arkansas community.

From humble beginnings building a food booth in his driveway to launching a restaurant known for its authenticity and heart, Binh’s story is a powerful blend of resilience, family legacy, and bold purpose. Whether you’re a food lover, entrepreneur, or local community supporter, this episode offers insights on leadership, heritage, and building a business with soul.

Key Takeaways:

  • Purpose Before Profit: Binh’s story shows the power of focusing on experience and mission instead of chasing money, which builds stronger businesses and communities.
  • The Standard, Not the Best: House 1830 is striving to be the touchstone for authentic Southeast Asian cuisine in NWA, helping educate locals on ingredients, techniques, and cultural context.
  • Family, Resilience, and Roots: Hear how Binh’s journey from refugee camps to restaurateur is woven into the DNA of House 1830, and why family recipes and history matter.
  • Night Markets & Community: House 1830’s Night Market brings the magic of Southeast Asian night markets to Rogers, sparking connection and cultural awareness through food.
  • Advice for Young Professionals: Put pride in your work, lead with curiosity, and become “the standard”—change comes from those who commit fully, especially in a region growing as fast as the Ozarks.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast.

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

Event:

  • Night Market Event at House 1830 – Seasonal, featuring Southeast Asian street food, candlelit ambiance, and community gathering

This episode is sponsored by*

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

FindItNWA.com

Try ONBoardNWA.com Today!

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

Connect more with I am Northwest Arkansas:

Thank you for listening to this I am Northwest Arkansas podcast episode. We showcase businesses, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in the Ozarks. 

Consider donating to our production team to keep this podcast running smoothly. Donate to I Am Northwest Arkansas

Mentioned in this episode:

ONBoardNWA.com

Looking for your next career move in Northwest Arkansas? Check out ONBoardNWA.com, the hyper-local job board designed to connect job seekers with leading employers in our community. From entry-level positions to executive roles, ONBoardNWA is your one-stop shop for job opportunities right here in NWA. Take the next step in your career and visit ONBoardNWA.com today.

Signature Bank of Arkansas "Community Banking at its Best!"

FindItNWA.com

Looking to discover the best local businesses in Northwest Arkansas? 🌟 From cozy cafes to essential services, FindItNWA.com has got you covered. Connect with your local community with just one click and explore something great. Visit finditnwa.com today! #LocalBusiness #CommunitySupport"

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Transcripts

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Hey, folks, and welcome back to another episode of the I Am Northwest

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Arkansas podcast. I'm your host, Randy Wilburn, and today we're

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diving deep into the world of food. But not just any

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food. We're talking about bold, authentic, thoughtfully

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crafted Asian cuisine that's shaking up the local

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culinary scene here in Northwest Arkansas. My guest

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is Binh Hoang, the visionary behind House

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1830 in downtown Rogers. From humble beginnings

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as the child of Vietnamese refugees, Ben's

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journey is a masterclass in purpose driven

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entrepreneurship. He's not following trends. He's rewriting

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the rules, educating palates, and setting new standards

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for what authentic food can and should be.

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So whether you're a foodie, an aspiring business owner, or just

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someone who appreciates a great story of grit and vision,

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this episode is for you. So pull up a chair and let's get into it.

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It's time for another episode of I Am Northwest

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Arkansas, the podcast covering the intersection of

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business, culture, entrepreneurship and life in general

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here, here in the Ozarks. Whether you are considering a move to

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this area or trying to learn more about the place you call home,

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we've got something special for you. Here's our host,

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Randy Wilbur. Hey, Ben, how are you

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doing? I'm doing well, how are you? I'm good, I'm good. I'm glad that we

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finally got to sit down and get connected. Just as a

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matter of record for everybody listening to this, I have to give

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a shout out to my good friend Boo and who introduced

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me to Ben and took me here for lunch one day and

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I was utterly blown away. This

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place, House 1830 is next level when it comes

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to Asian food. And I think we had a conversation about some of my experience

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and the few years I lived in the Bay Area, specifically in San

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Francisco, and you talk about good Asian food, you could throw a rock and

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hit a really good Asian food restaurant in San Francisco. But

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without further ado, man, we are so glad to have you on the podcast.

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How are you doing in just in general? Oh, gosh, we've been

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growing like crazy. We don't advertise, so it's been always great to see the

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response from folks coming in. Most of our clientele are

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referrals and all word of mouth. That's

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what we wanted and intended to have from the start is to

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zero advertising so we can gauge our performance based off of

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neurofeedback. Well, I mean, you're in the perfect location. So for those that are.

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Because this is an audio podcast, we're right across from the rail yards here in

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downtown Rogers, or dtr, as the cool kids like to say.

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But we're not far from Onyx. The Onyx building,

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we're right next to Tuscan Trotter. It's a perfect, perfect

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location. So, I mean, you guys kind of. Not that you lucked out,

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but, I mean, you. You know, purposefully, you ended up in a really good spot.

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Yeah, we. Gosh, it was. It was a little scary when we first opened because

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it was still a little desolate. You know, the. The Tuscan Trotter wasn't built

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yet and under construction. It was actually supposed to be a different unit.

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And we went through a whole journey of just being tucked

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away in this corner by ourselves for about a year. A

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little desolate. But the response from the market has just been absolutely heartwarming.

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That's good. I'm glad to hear it. And listen, I mean, I know that it's

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hard to translate how good food is through a podcast, but, folks,

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I'm here to tell you this food is legit.

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And I mean true Asian cuisine. And I don't want to hype it up too

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much, but I just have to say that you will come here and you will

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not be disappointed. But let's. I want you to learn why you should make

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your way to House 1830. Whether you live in Rogers. If you live in

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Rogers, you should be a regular here. But anywhere that you are in the

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greater northwest Arkansas area, you need to make house

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1831 of your regular stops for really good Asian

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cuisine. But, Ben, I want to start out with your story, right?

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Because I think I always love telling somebody superhero origin story, but

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your story starts with an axle and a driveway. How

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did that evolve into house 1830?

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My parents, you know, every good Asian household, you.

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You're volun told to do things and make projects completed and

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whatnot. So my dad brought home an axle and dropped it on the driveway. And

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this was my freshman year in high school. I was, you know,

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whopping 14, soon to be 15. And

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my brother and I were standing there, we were kind of looking at this thing.

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He's like, what do you think this will be? I mean, it's got to be

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a camper, right? Like, what else would you bring an axle home for? And my

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dad walks out of the garage, and he says, that's going to be a

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food booth. Now, mind you, this is 1992. Wow. Not a huge thing

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back then. So he said, it's going to be a food booth, and we're going

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to keep you out of trouble by having 13 festivals

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for the 13 weeks of summer. So we were pretty much tied

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down, you know, with prepping and everything during the week and then

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festivals on weekends. That was our entire summer. So I was quite salty

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with the idea, as you can imagine. I lost my entire freedom

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without a voice or a vote. And then we went.

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We built the food booth from scratch, welded the frames,

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put the walls up, electrical, all that stuff, cabinetry, everything. And

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about two and a half months later, after school ended, was our first festival.

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And I was still salty on the way there. Setting up there, you know, in

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the morning. And then the crowds opened, everybody came in,

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the festival started, and that's. I just immediately fell in love. And so that

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began our family's business in the food industry.

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1992, where was this? This is in Corvallis, Oregon.

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Okay. Okay. Wow. And then about three years later, I went

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away to college and then came home for the summer.

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And my parents said, hey, we're thinking of opening a brick and mortar

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restaurant. And I immediately said, hold on a second.

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Is this in lieu of what we're doing or in addition? It said, in addition,

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and I hugged my head. As you can imagine, you know, the work that's ahead

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there. So that became the first restaurant out of

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six in the family in Oregon. And then my uncle ended up opening

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three of his in LA. Since then, we've, you know, we've got five

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left in Oregon. My parents restaurant we sold about three years ago,

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moved them here to open up house 1830. And so that's. That's kind

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of how, you know, went from a trailer, or rather an axle in the

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driveway to a restaurant here in northwest Arkansas. Wow, that's crazy.

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I mean. I mean, the arc of that has got to be something now. So

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was your dad, I mean, entrepreneurial growing up? Very much so,

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yeah. He. He was a jeweler, a mechanic. He had a lot of different

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businesses that he started and ran. That's actually how, you know, he

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became a little bit of a target for the communist government. Oh, yeah,

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yeah. Which is how we became refugees. Yeah. Wow. So,

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and you came over. What year did your family come over here? We came here

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in 1980. Wow. Okay, okay. And that was not a

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couple of years after the fall of Saigon? Yeah, that was.

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Yeah, several years, actually. We actually were immigrants in.

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Out of Thailand. Oh, you were? Okay, okay. So my

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parents were raised in Lao. We're Vietnamese by descent. They're raised in Laos.

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And then we were. I was born in the refugee camp in Thailand. Wow.

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Wow, man. Well, you know, I Think the thing for me is

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I really took to you right away because you're an amazing

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storyteller. Takes one to know one, but you are an amazing

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storyteller. And literally, in the short period of time that Boo and I

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were here for lunch, I mean, you educated me on some things that

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kind of blew me away. And I was just like, man, I thought I knew

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something about Asian cuisine, but this dude is on another level in terms

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of just his understanding of it and the nuance to

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buns and things of that nature. And I was just blown away. I was like,

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oh, I gotta sit down and talk with you. So, you know, one of the

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things that you said when we had our initial conversation before

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we actually had this interview, you said that you're not money motivated,

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but experience motivated. How did that guide your

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career? Cause you have it. You did step out and get into

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corporate America, and you. You've kind of dallied in a lot of different areas,

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which I think is really interesting, and it paints a much broader

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picture for who you are. But how did that guide your career?

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Well, I think, you know, it comes down from the perspective of when you

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grow your experience, you grow your demand. Right. And

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like that. Can I use that? Yeah, absolutely. That's good. And that's the

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reality. I mean, for me, you know, I've always said my. I worked

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in a. I was in med school, and then I went and changed my career.

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So I went and got my MBA and went into an ad agency. Working

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in the ad agency, if you can imagine. I mean, I was one of the

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few members of my graduating, you know, MBA class that was making,

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well, less than $80,000. I was changing careers. Yeah. Yeah.

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So, you know, I knew I had to start somewhere. And I started,

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you know, a $30,000 a year job doing research. And

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my boss, you know, she was like, you know, we're gonna make you a lot

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of money this. And I'm like, I'm not interested in that. I mean, yes, make

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it, but at the same time, I'm interested in gaining that experience.

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With experience comes the finances that support you along

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the way. And like I said, with experience also comes demand.

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And so I kind of took that forward and

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built my entire career based off of gaining experiences and

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gaining knowledge on how to run a business.

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Knowing that someday I'll be running my own business. I wanted to make sure I

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had my own training program, as you can imagine. And that's really how it

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all came about. That's how my career was developed, is because I went for

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jobs that gave me the training, not necessarily the money, but the

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money came along and that was kind of gave me a lot

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of growth and initiatives and whatnot that taught me how to

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run a business. And so that's how we are today.

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It says now that we've gotten 25 years of, you know, running

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businesses and building strategies and marketing, et cetera, et cetera,

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here we are. You know, I decided it's time to open, open this restaurant. And

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this is the first of six that will open in the area. And my parents

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can finally retire. Yeah, right, right. By that, I mean my mom's in the back

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cooking. Yeah, she was here, I think, the last time we were here. So,

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yeah, she's here every day. Every day, Yeah. I love that. I love that.

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So I'm curious to know, as you were gaining your experience

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in the business world, how much of that were you kind of taking back

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to the restaurants? Because they were still running, I would imagine. Even as you

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were working for another employer, were you constantly going back to help

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refine things? Oh, yeah, I'm tethered pretty much. But

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anytime, you know, we open another restaurant or come up with a different concept, I'm

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always involved in conversations and, and how to, you know, how to

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communicate that out to the market and positioning as well. So, you know,

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we live in. Grew up in a small town, Corvallis is a small little college

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town in Oregon. And it'd be kind of silly for us to

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create the same restaurant concept over and

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over and over again because you're just basically biting at each other

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instead, as they say. So I said, well, let's tier this. My aunt

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has a lot of knowledge in fine or

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dining, and she's traveled the world at that point too, so she's got a great

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depth and understanding of that. So I said that's what makes the

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most sense for her to, to do. My uncles, you know, they, they loved

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the smaller shops like the sandwich shops and the, the quick serves, so we

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did that. And my parents, their restaurant was a fast casual. So

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typically the way we look at it is that the fast casual, you're spending about

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30 minutes and $30 for a 2 top, you know, whereas

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a finer dining, you're spending about two hours and $200 for a 2

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top. So it's around there. It's kind of how we look at it from a

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standpoint of, you know, volume and turns and this and that

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to make the business work. So that's the. We figured let's

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keep the tiering that way. And with a quick serve, you're talking about, you know,

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15, $20, and you're spending about 20 minutes for a two

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top. So that's how we look at it. And when we built this restaurant, that's

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also how we looked at it too. It's like, how much time do we think

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people will spend here and how much time do we need to develop

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a proper experience that they would want to come back? Yeah.

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And I'm sure some people are wondering, how did you end up in northwest

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Arkansas? It's my, my job. Ten years ago, I was hired

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by Tyson. Okay. And I was brought little company down in Springdale.

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A little one somewhat. Chickens. Yeah.

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But they, you know, I was, I was hired to run the manage the,

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the handheld sandwich category for food services. So very

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sexy category, as you can imagine. We

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went through. About a year later, we went through some reorgs there and

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I started inheriting more categories to manage. I ended up having a

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total of 10 categories. Oh, wow, that's a lot. It's a lot.

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Yeah. But you know, the team of 16 that was a part of ended up

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being a team of two. Okay. So with the reorg. So it just

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changed a lot of things, as you can imagine. So I really

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got to learn a lot in fun and unique

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things that you can do when you're restrained in that way. And that's really

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kind of what it comes down to is how do you navigate a

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space? One, you don't know and two, your hands are bound. And

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this comes back to an anecdotal story I always tell every interview

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I've ever had that I've got landed a job on. I told this story and

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it's my dad. When we came here, they exchanged their

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remaining of their savings and it was US$20. So if you imagine

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US$20, you barely spoke English and you got two little kids to feed. So

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it's a little scary. As a father now that's a daunting

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idea. He used to work at a junkyard and

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dismantling transmission boxes. And they would pay him like $10 a box.

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And one day he would go in there every day and he would dismantle 10

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boxes, take home his hundred dollars. And then one day

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the recession in the 80s hit and the junkyard, they knew that

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we were refugees and we didn't have much. And he's does good work and

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he's trying to make ends meet. So they said, we can't pay you 10, but

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we'll pay you 5. He said, okay. He came in and he dismantled his 20

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and brought his $100 home. So that's kind of the story of resilience, but

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also the story of understanding there's more than one way to achieve a

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goal. And that's kind of why I took the

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route that I did and learned what I did is to understand what are the

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ways that I can achieve a goal and how many different ways can I

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do that effectively. So that's how the whole

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origin and everything comes together. And again, Tyson was what

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brought me down here 10 years ago. Yeah. Wow. What are your

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thoughts overall of northwest Arkansas? Oh, I love it here. I

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absolutely love it here. Growing up in. Traveled a lot. Oh, yeah, yeah, absolutely.

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Yeah, I traveled. I moved to Pittsburgh for undergrad,

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met my wife there, ran for student government president. She voted against me, so I

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married her. You know, kind of set the record. Wait, you went to Pitt? Did

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you go? I went to Pitt for grad school. I went to Duquesne. Oh, you

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went to Duquesne. Okay. So my. Yeah, my. My grandfather was a Pitt Panther,

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so. Yeah. So I know Pittsburgh very well, and I've talked about it

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a lot on this podcast. But that's. That's really cool. I think I may have

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missed that, but knowing that you spent time in the Steel City. Oh, yeah, that

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means something. So. And I got there when they were just starting to clean it

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up. Yeah. You know, so, yeah, I saw the evolution, which is really kind of

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cool to see. Well, it's crazy now because, I mean, Google has moved in. There's

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a bunch of, you know, there's. It's. Pittsburgh has gentrified. It's. It's a really

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interesting space right now. And as an older city

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that has had a renaissance of sorts, they have. You know, and

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I think the thing about northwest Arkansas that's really unique is that, you know,

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northwest Arkansas, still new. You know what I'm saying? It's like they just took

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the wrapper off and, you know, now we've got. We've got a new campus

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for Walmart. We've got a lot of new development.

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I mean, what you're experiencing right here in downtown Rogers is a

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renaissance of sorts of. Although it's just been kind of a constant

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evolution that's taking place here, and northwest Arkansas is really

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interesting. I'm 11 years in, and I'm still amazed at all of the

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growth that's happening and how it's going to continue to grow. Yeah, no,

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absolutely. It's wonderful because for me, it reminds me of my hometown and

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downtown Rogers in particular, the reason why we chose this location was because it reminded

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me of my hometown. You had the community walking around, people

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helping each other out, merchants helping each other out. I mean, the merchants meet once

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a month and collaborate, which is

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not a common thing that you see a lot of places. It

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isn't. But I will say this. Shout out to the Rogers Lowell Chamber of Commerce,

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because they are the glue that makes things happen here in

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Rogers and beyond. So one of the best chambers of commerce in the state.

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Absolutely. And I would defy anybody to point me

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in the direction of somebody else that's not as involved both with

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their members, but with. But just with the community as a whole. So.

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Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I really love that. So what does it mean

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when you say House 1830 is not meant

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to be the best, but the standard? Yeah. So, you know,

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having traveled the country in the world and taking my family out

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to eat is probably the hardest thing in the world, as you can imagine, because

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there's so many cooks in the family. Yeah, yeah. And

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it's very competitive within our family, let alone outside, so going

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to eat anywhere. What we found is that a lot of Southeast

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Asian cuisine has been, for lack of a better term,

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bastardized. You know, there's the element of regional differences.

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There's the element of creating a menu of Southeast Asian. Asian food,

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but then adding a general TSO to the menu, which is confusing to the market.

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Super confusing. Super confusing. I mean, I tell my family, if any of them open

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up a restaurant, don't do that, because that's why we all look alike.

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You know, it's so funny you say that, because I've been into Thai restaurants where

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I'm like, general. So what? It's like, why they have this here? If you're a

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Thai spot, I want, like, just Thai. Yeah, that's it. I don't want anything else

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but Thai, so. But no, I like that. You said that to me before when

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I first came here, and I really appreciated that because it seems like

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you really take your craft seriously. We do, because, I mean, you

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know, over 70 years, the market's been confused as to what Asian food

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really means. I mean, we're lumped in with Chinese food or Japanese food, and that's

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kind of the main. Over the last 20 years, it's starting to

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expand, and the market's starting to understand that there is a difference

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and sort of appreciate the difference. But what I

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absolutely love is fusion food, and you're seeing a

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surge of that. And for due reasons, I mean, fusion food is One, the

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best way to differentiate your business against anybody else out there.

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You can claim something, right? Yeah. And two, it's a fun way to

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introduce a different experience. And so that's why fusion food I

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enjoy a lot. But whenever I went, traveled, you know, with

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coworkers from various different positions that I've held, and all over the country in the

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world, I started noticing that they're appreciating certain things, but they don't know why.

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Or they don't like something, but they don't know why. Right. And so I started

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to dig into the history and the purposes

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more, the cook styles, the methodology, and the ingredients

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and how they come about rice. Something as simple as rice is

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actually much more complicated than it initially appears, you know?

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Yeah. So that's how it all came together. That's the reason why I

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really wanted to be the standard for traditional foods. I don't need to

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be the best for two reasons. One is we want to first reset

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what the standard taste and flavors and experience should be

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for Southeast Asian cuisine. And we represent all three Vietnamese, Lao, and Thai

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here. And then two is also, you know, there are a lot of great

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cooks and chefs out there, and it doesn't make sense to me to go

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push each other down. Yeah. You know, so the more great

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chefs, the better for all of us. A rising tide. Yeah, exactly. So why

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have this negativity to somebody who does it better? We celebrate that. Yeah. So if

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somebody does it better, I celebrate it, and that's what we do here. Okay. You

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talked about how do you educate customers about the

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deeper stories behind your dishes. Like I said, I mean, you would literally.

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I mean, I felt like I was experiencing a TED Talk while I

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had my lunch, really, about Asian cuisine. And specifically,

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I think the thing that I stood out to me was you gave me a

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breakdown of how buns are different

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based on where they are developed regionally, where they're made

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regionally. And so that really sealed it for me. That's why I was like, man,

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I gotta have you on the podcast. I wanna talk. But tell me why

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those stories matter so much. Well, I mean, it all came down to.

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And the epiphany I had many years ago was, how do we

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get team member to try a different dish, you

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know, they've never had before. Yeah. And a lot of my teams, I mean,

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you'll experience this a lot of times. A lot of teams want. They want to

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shock each other. So I'm like, wait, we want. We want folks to come back,

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you know? So I want Team members to come back in the office. I want

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them to enjoy this experience, that they actually want to stay here with us and

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be a part of this. And this is, you know, in corporate America. Right. So

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the way I bring this about is really on that mission of, you

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know, resetting the standard and. And letting people understand.

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That's the reason why we named House 1830 a vague name. I wanted people to

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come in curious, and I wanted them to come in with no preconceived notions, because

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then it's not like, oh, the pho is. Tastes better over here

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versus there. I'm like, it's not about that. It's about for us

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here. The pho is my great grandmother's recipe. It's been made

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for generations, and that's. We want to showcase that standard.

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Now, if over there, I'm better. Why, you know, and that's really

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what I want to encourage people to understand is the why. And that's how I

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got to the why of bao buns being what they are

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in different regions. Really opened my eyes on how to pair foods with people.

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And so that's really the generation of how that

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epiphany came together is, you know, first of all, how do you get people

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to try new things? Why do people like or don't like new things?

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And then understanding the foods and the direction behind us, the

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physical nature of eating and tasting and how that comes together,

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and it just evolved from there. Yeah. No, Well, I mean, again,

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I said I want to encourage everybody to come here, and I'm sure for

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some of our listeners, just give us the quick cliff note version of

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bao buns and why they're different when they're made

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from the northern region versus the southern region. Absolutely. So if you

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go back into history and time, right. The. The resources

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is our main thing. So in those colder climates up

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north, most part of the year, fresh, clean water is hard to

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come by. It's all frozen. So usually you see the cook methods up there, more

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grilling and stewing. So the sauces that are produced out of that

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and the proteins are preserved with salts and spices and whatnot, so

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you can have a longer amount of time to use it. So the sauces that

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are produced out of that tend to be thicker. And when you go down to

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Southeast Asia, where there's an abundance of water, it's, you know, try.

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But starting a fire is the hardest thing in a wet jungle. So.

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So the cook methods there tend to be, you know, you get a fire started,

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you steam cook, you have plenty of water. So steam cook things. And you can

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do that with less resources and enable to

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produce a thinner sauce. And because of that, the dough

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has to balance, and there's a purpose for, you know, a thicker dough in

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the north versus a more fluffy dough in the south. And I'll get into all

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that when you come visit. But that it really comes down

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to us as human beings acclimating to the environment we're in.

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Yeah. And that led to the question of why is spicy food

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spiciest in Southeast Asia and not in Mongolia? Sure, you know, it's

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spicy, but not nearly the same. Well, one, you know, the

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chilies that grow in Southeast Asia grow spiciest whenever it's

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wet and hot. So the rainy season from February

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to about April is when it's wettest and hot. And so those

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chilies grow really, really spicy. Why do we eat those? Is

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the next question. So you keep asking these questions, and that's how I came about.

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The reason why is because we're acclimating to the environment. When it's humid

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and hot, you eat spicy foods, you sweat it out, and that actually

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allows you to acclimate better. And so that's the reason why spicy

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foods in Southeast Asia is more prevalent and more

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potent than in Mongolia. But when you go to

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observe this in other parts of the world, I started seeing the same trend. You

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know, in Europe, I saw meat and potatoes in Germany. All the flavors

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packed into the potato, into the meat and the potatoes tends to be a little

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bit more on the bland side. Go to Sicily, it's a little spicier. And then

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I observed it here in the US and like, you know, you've got barbecue

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in Texas. Barbecue is spicy. But you go up to, you know, South Carolina, North

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Carolina and St. Louis, and it's. It's sweet or it's tangy. It has a

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different component to it because there's no heat, you know, so need for the

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humidity up there doesn't exist. So you don't need the heat as much. And those

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are. Those are the general trends that I'm observing. So I'm like, okay, well, if

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that's the case, just by simply knowing where somebody is from and how much they've

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traveled, I compare foods with them. Man, that's awesome.

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What allowances did you make coming here to northwest

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Arkansas in terms of cuisine? How does northwest Arkansas,

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as a backdrop, inform the cuisine that you do here?

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Well, you know, the Vietnamese community immigrated to north

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of Zarksville through Fort Chaffee. Okay. And some of my dad's

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relatives, which we had lost, he had lost contact with

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when everybody immigrated, ended up coming through Fort Chaffee. So,

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as we've learned, once I moved here. So you have a pretty.

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I mean, sizable and strong definition of Southeast Asian food

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in Fort Smith in northwest Arkansas, particularly in

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Bentonville and Rogers here, that representation is not

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as strong. But I will tell you, I was pleasantly

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surprised when I came down here. The first time was in 2003.

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It did not look at all like this. But when I came down here and

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over the course of five years of traveling down here for

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Walmart line reviews and whatnot, I started noticing more and more.

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And the credit that I give here is that, you know, you've got a lot

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more representation of Southeast Asian cuisine in Northwest Arkansas than you do

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in Pittsburgh. So that's. For me, you got a big city up there. I

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spent 20 years in Pittsburgh, and I got to see it evolve, but it still

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was paled in comparison to here. Yeah. So that kind of gave

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me the confidence that the market here is ready for

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more and ready for a greater understanding. And then you

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also have the vendor network that I was a part of and kind of seeing

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the mentality of the vendor network where, especially in the food industry, you're

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always constantly trying to find examples. We were sent up

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to Chicago, San Francisco, all over the place to

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experience food, and in all my previous jobs, to

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experience food, get inspired. But what I observed, and this

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is what really kind of took me back, what I observed is that a lot

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of my team members would look at a menu, and they go, oh, that sounds

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interesting. Oh, that looks like it's tasty. And on and on. And then

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the server comes over and they go, can I have a Pad Thai pronounced wrong,

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you know, and so that's when I went to our, you know,

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our VP of R& D, and I said, you've got a problem is it was

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that I said, you're sending people out to get inspired for innovation,

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but all you're really doing is renovating, innovating. Yeah. And he's like,

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why is that? Because you're ordering the same stuff. You're not trying anything new. You're

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not expanding your pallets. You're not trying to understand the

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purpose and the reasons why flavors are supposed to be a certain way.

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Yeah. And so that's the reason why you've got 15 varieties

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of frozen bread and teriyaki chicken, you know, in the. In the inventory.

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So we only need one. And so that's kind of, you know,

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the conversation that I had more broadly and the

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understanding I have of why we really need to do

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become that anchor. Yeah, I mean, it's just, there's so many

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directions that you can go with that. But it seems like, you know, your, your

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work at Tyson kind of set you up for additional future

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success as you've got in, into this. Because again, your

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family's been doing this for a long time and it seems like your

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career path has taken you down different roads that all lead

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back. That's correct. To what you guys have done. Yeah, that's correct. That's

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actually like I said earlier, my career was a training

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program that I built myself. Yeah. I took positions that

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gave me an understanding of a component of running a business,

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be it operationally or financial or sales

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wise and marketing, so on, so forth. All of it had a

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component to it. And Tyson brought me down here and I took that

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role because it was more of an operational component

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of marketing and business management. So it gave me a lot more

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clarity to things that I wasn't 100% confident

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in. But after working there, definitely learned a lot. I mean, I think every

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position I've held has, has taught me a great deal to what allowed me to

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build this. Yeah, well, you, you certainly on the right track, that's

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for sure. What, what would your response be to guests

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who focus only on price without understanding quality?

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Yeah, that's a, that's a big pet peeve of mine because again, I

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mean, you know, we can, it goes right back to the element of what

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I learned the ad agency and I applied to just about everything in life, including

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golf, but is good, quick, cheap, pick two.

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And that's, you know, you, you go for all those, but you aim for

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all three. But you, you can really succeed in two. And, and this is a

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situation here. If you go to a restaurant or if you buy

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a vehicle or you buy a product, you can buy it cheaper.

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Yeah. But you truly get what you pay for. Yeah. And that's the reality.

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And the unfortunate part is Southeast Asian cuisine. And I hear this a lot,

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which kind of bothers me a little bit, but I hear this a lot. Where

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Southeast Asian cuisine, ethnic cuisines like Mexican or you know,

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Ecuadorian, El Salvadorian, you name it. There's always

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this stigma that it cannot be a certain price or above.

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Yeah. And what you realize, and this is, you know, I observed

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this, it frustrates me because I love a good steak.

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You know, I love a good like, you know, full muscle steak. Sure.

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But when you, what you see is when you Go to a place where the

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price point is lower, they're replacing that with usually a

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skirt steak or, you know, they're usually scraps. You

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see the scraps. And it's, it's, it affects the flavor and everything. There's no

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marbling, there's nothing. None of that. Yeah. It's just a little chewy.

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So for me, I value quality over price, and I'll go to

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a place and I'll actually select something for its quality,

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irregardless of price. Yeah. But if I pay for something at a

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hefty price and the quality doesn't match, that's where the disconnect occurs.

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Yeah. And so here, you know, our most expensive dish is a $4,

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$6 steak. And it is, it's one of our most popular dishes we

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have here because things are formulated in a certain way, and whenever you, you

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taste it, it melts in your mouth and you have the satisfaction. I can't tell

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you how many times people, you know, they just aggressively point their

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fork at the steak. Yeah. That is cooked perfectly. And I say

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thank you. It's not. My team and I will have a different conversation. Yeah, yeah,

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yeah. But I have a fantastic team. And they, and they deliver every

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single night. You do. I noticed even at the lunch hour, everybody seems to

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really pay attention to detail. What you, I mean, as somebody, I didn't, I

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grew up. I think I told you this. I cut my teeth waiting tables. And

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I was kind of like, worked in a small mom and pop, high end

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cuisine restaurant when I was like 14. And that really broadened my

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palate and horizon about service in general.

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And. But I noticed those are some of the things I pick up right away

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with attention to detail, with staff. And so, and I tell young people,

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I tell my kids this. I'm like, if you work in a restaurant, a good

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restaurant, you can really learn some skill sets and some things

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that will serve you the rest of your life. Oh, absolutely. I mean, literally.

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I mean, I'm in my 50s now, and I still do things the

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way that I was taught and trained. And a couple of the really nice restaurants

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that I worked in. No, absolutely. That's, you know, it's funny because

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here we operate under three pillars. Quality, consistency, and

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cleanliness. You can't have one without the other. And my

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team tries to challenge me. When they started, when we first started out, they trying

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to challenge me on that statement. They're like, well, what about cleanliness? Why do you

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have to have the others? I'm like, you can't Be clean without doing it with

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quality and consistently. It's not clean consistently. So

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you have to have all three. And I say everything we do here, every action,

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every decision we make, everything we do here always relates back to

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how does it positively impact all three. Because if it's only two, we

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have a problem. You have to ask yourself at that point, really

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serious questions. Are we really doing it that way properly? And

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so that's one element. And I think that that gives the team

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a perspective on how to operate here, and it really delivers

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that experience that we're looking to provide. I can't stand a

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dirty kitchen. I can't eat in one. If I were to go out and I

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see a dirty kitchen, it kind of, you know, turns me off. So

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we have an open kitchen. That kitchen is cleaned twice a day at the end

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of every shift. So that when you come in for your shift, it's as if

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it's day one and not for anything other than, you know, we gotta do

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it with all three of those pillars. So it was like, well, we could just

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clean this part here. That part. No, the whole thing. Yeah. So that's. That

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element of detail is important in delivering the experience. In fact,

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there's more details in this business that people learn as they. As they come

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in and experience it. Yeah. I guess we'll never see you on Kitchen Nightmares. So

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that's okay. Yeah, that's okay.

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So, listen, can you share? I know we talked about this and

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there. And we typically, when we do these podcast episodes, we like

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to kind of focus on evergreen things. But you did mention to me an event

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that you're doing in the very near future. It's called Night

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Market Event, which is something that was an inspiration that you got from, I

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guess, in Vietnam. Vietnam, yeah. So I'd love for you to share just a

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little bit about this and. And what is your hope for this particular event?

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Yeah, I mean, the hope for the event. So The House Season 30 Night Market

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is intended to be kind of the foray into

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doing a regular seasonal event. So I would love to

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have this done twice a year at least. Okay. This first one is going to

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be on site. It's going to be on our patio. And inside the restaurant here,

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we'll have 10 stations, 15 items. And so

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some. Some stations will have two. They're tickets that you purchase, and then you just

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turn them in. Like at a carnival, you have two to five tickets for per

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item, depending on the item. And the idea behind this is

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really to kind of create a gathering, you know, One of the biggest, greatest

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experiences in south throughout Asia, really, not just Southeast Asia, but throughout Asia

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are the night markets. I mean, I've been to the night market in, you know,

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Taiwan, in Japan, in Hong Kong, and of course

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throughout Southeast Asia. And every single one, you see

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just that abundance of activity and life and joy.

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You know, you get to eat food, you get to have drinks, mingle around, walk

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around people, watch whatever your desire. Eventually, we would

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love to have it over at the rail yard over there and be able to

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create a true night market experience to this

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fullest extent. But for this first one, we're going to have those stations and it's

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really a chance to showcase the street foods of Southeast

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Asia. And we've got a representation of all three countries.

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It's fun to create the menu. This all started,

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what we're doing is that it starts in six and at 6:34

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sundown, that's when all the incandescent lights, all the lighting gets shut

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off. Okay. And one by one, there's

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candle little tea lights at each station get turned

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on and you'll hear like a gong or something that indicates another

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one getting turned on. Every table will have several. So this all started

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during my travels in Vietnam as a kid. I remember

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going through this little town and it was a night market had popped up

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along the side of the street and we're in the cab driving through and

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people everywhere. You know, it's just a lot of fun activities. All the stations

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have their string lights up and whatnot. But at the

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time, this is before the embargo was lifted, Vietnam, their

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electricity was controlled by the government. Yeah. So at 8 o', clock,

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electricity shut off and it went pitch black in an instant.

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And if you imagine sitting in a taxi and all you could see were the

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feet in front of the headlights moving and people were crossing

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the. In front of cars and the cars are still moving in the dark. Right.

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I got desensitized living here for a while. That's funny.

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But one by one, each station started lighting candles and it just got brighter and

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brighter. The entire ambiance and the entire experience changed

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in a way that was just magical. Yeah. And so that's what we want to

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try to recreate here for this first go around. That's very cool. Will

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the menu be made. Made known in advance or.

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Yes, two weeks. I'm going to post it on Instagram and Facebook.

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Okay. And then the ticket deals that we have live right now will

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go down a week before. Okay. And then after that you can get the Tickets

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on site for $2 a piece. Okay, cool. Very cool. Yeah, we'll make

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sure we put this out so that people know about that and we'll, we'll

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share this information so that they have it. And even if you're listening to this

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after the fact, I'm sure you can go to the

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House1830.com website to see maybe when their next

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night market will be. But I suspect that this will be a success

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and this will maybe lead to other things. Yeah, the response has been already

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very strong. Fantastic. I love that. All right, well, I only

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have a few more questions. One is, where do you see House

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1830's role in the broader NWA culinary

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movement? Where do you see that evolving? You know,

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I. It's really more the bigger umbrella. So our

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concept as a business is that you come into our home, eat our foods

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the way we eat it. So house 1830, being my childhood home from

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Oregon and being Southeast Asian food is only one of two

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main concepts. The second will be House 1920, which is my wife's

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childhood home, she's a Slovak. So we'll be doing Eastern European

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foods. We'll have pierogies, halushki, chicken paprikash, stuffed cabbage,

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bulbulki, you name it. The fun part about that concept is

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that five years before my mother in law passed away, she agreed to let me

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film her showing us how to make the dishes traditionally. Yeah. So that'll be the

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foundation of our menu for House 1920. Okay. So having

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those two concepts being, you know, a showcase of

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ethnic foods and a welcome to the home, we want to continue that. Yeah.

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And I would love to see more restaurants and more,

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you know, components, feature of those type of welcome into the home.

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Because I'd like that to be kind of like the, you know, evolution of

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what this business is, inspiring others to do the same.

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Absolutely, absolutely. And in the vein of inspiring others,

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this is my last question. And I think you carry a lot of weight

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with your words given your background and experience. But what advice

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would you give young people who want to build a

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meaningful career here in Northwest Arkansas? Well,

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the advice I'd give, and I would say this is probably something I would give

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to anybody, regardless of where they're at. But you gotta

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do a couple things. One is you gotta put pride into your work

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because your reputation of your work precedes you and will always

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precede you. So when you come into

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your place of business, always put your best foot forward, never

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knowing if you're being interviewed by somebody. And I bring this

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Back to before opening this restaurant, I worked at Texas Roadhouse for

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eight weeks. Just was an idea that I wanted to go and kind of understand

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the model here. I have a model that works in Oregon, no problem. But what

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about here? What do I need to change and adjust for? So I went and

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worked there. Nobody knew why. I told them I got laid off.

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And during that time, there was. Near the end there,

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there was a situation where I had two bussers. I asked them to help

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me pre bus a table so I can turn it and get people who are

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waiting in line in and get them serviced and whatnot. And they both, for

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one reason or another, looked at me, looked at each other, and walked away without

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saying a word. So noted. And so then what happened was

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whenever I announced my departure, they both individually came up to me and

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said, hey, Ben, heard you're opening a restaurant. Love to work

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for you. And I had half of mine not to say anything, but I thought,

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you know, they're too young to not learn a lesson about work

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and ethic and, you know, career. So I told them both individually,

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said, you know, you need to come into work as if you're being interviewed because

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you had no idea I was interviewing you the whole time. You remember that incident

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a few weeks ago? And their jaws dropped. I'm like, just by that incident

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alone, I would not hire you because you have shown me that you're

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not willing to do the job regardless of the emotions.

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You know, at the end of the day, we're here to do a job. Yeah.

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And you want to do it to the best of your ability. I also had

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a chef who. Who said, you know, all I do is walk. Just to walk.

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I'm like, you know, the food worth cooking. Right, right, right. And. And I said,

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you know, I've had roles where I was given the worst,

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you know, projects to work through and complete, and

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nobody wanted it. But my perspective was. And I encourage

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all the young, you know, career professionals that are growing into

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the business. I encourage everybody to think of it this way. You want to do

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that job to the best of your ability so that you become the

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standard. Yeah. So the next person comes in now, of course, has

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to, you know, has to then live up above that. And if we keep pushing

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each other in that way by doing the best of what we can do, they

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will constantly rise. Oh, yeah. You know, as a community and as.

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A nation, I mean, I told you I love that, love that Texas

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Roadhouse story. And that is I try to

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actually shared. When you first told Me, that story, I shared it with my sons

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because I said, you never know who's watching. You really don't,

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you don't. And my advice to all these young folks that are out there,

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Gen Z, Gen Alpha, as you start to

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cut your teeth in working in the real world, put your best foot

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forward, just like Ben said. And because again, you just,

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you never know when an opportunity is going to put itself in front

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of you. So, yeah, that is, it's kind of heartbreaking when you hear those

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stories because you just know that a lot of young people are not getting

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the proper training and advice. Some of it comes out of the

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home, some of it is just, you know, if you have a boss that actually

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cares, they're going to speak to you about, hey, this is the proper way for

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you to do things. And I tell you, I was warmed the other

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day when I was talking to one of my son's co workers who

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works with him at the co op and they were saying how professional he

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is as a, he's so young, he's 18. But how professional he is

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and how serious he takes his job and he just does a good job

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and he, you know, he doesn't phone it in. He's actually there working. Yeah. And

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she said, it's so refreshing because these kids nowadays. And again,

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I'm not casting aspersions. Why I'm saying, you know, I have hope for our

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future. I do too. And I have hope for this next generation. You guys are

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going to do amazing things. And that's why, you know, hearing some of these

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stories, some of these anecdotes will help you to

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take that next step that you need to take. Because let me just say this,

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the world is waiting for your contribution eagerly. And

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so we are all rooting for you. We, we don't want to see anyone

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not succeed in this space, whatever it is. It could be a

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restaurant, it could be a general retail outlet, it could be

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consulting, it doesn't matter. We want to see you succeed. Yeah, I mean, frankly, I'm

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getting old. I need the younger generation to

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have the commitment and give me the confidence. Absolutely,

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absolutely. Well, Ben, this has been great, man. How can people

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get connected with you? What would you say is the easiest way for them to

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connect with you? Yeah, the best way is really to go onto our website, House

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1830 com. We have our menus on there. Every three months we

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change our menu so it gets posted up there. We have the all day menu

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as well as the lunch menu and then go on to. There's a order online.

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That's where you can find the events and the tickets that are available for those.

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Because we have a lot of ticketed events as well. Yeah. That are honestly

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really what people resonate around a lot. We do a chef's

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feast once a quarter when we launch a new menu. Okay. Those are very.

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Oh, that sounds fun. I need to come for that. Yes, you do. Yes.

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Those tickets sell out fast. Within about 30 minutes after I post it. The whole

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restaurant sells out for that. It's only. They're limited seats. It's limited seats. Okay.

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Chef's feet are typically about six to eight seats

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per day only. I gotcha. And it's two hours with me, and we. We

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try all the new dishes, but you also try a bunch of traditional dishes. Not

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on the menu. Not on the menu. Okay. It gives a lot of perspective to,

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you know, how foods are. I. I go through all. A lot of the anthropology

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of that too. I love that. And then we also do pairing events, and that's

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a great way to experience the food and be able to kind of see the

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nuances between the drinks and the food. Because one of the things that. When

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we first opened, my bartender asked me, he's like, can we serve a

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lemon drop? Yeah. And I said, look, I don't have a problem serving a lemon

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drop. But the issue is more lemon's not native to

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Southeast Asia, so the food may be adversely affected.

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And for that reason, you have to let people know that so that they.

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They understand that. And he's like, why is that? Well, if you go to the

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restaurants around here and you have a lemon drop, and the food. And food tastes

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great, and you go to the next place and do the same thing, and the

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food tastes great. You. All these different places, then you come here, you have a

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lemon drop, and the food is bitter. What do you blame? Right. So, you know,

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in your world, the only thing that's changed is the food. Yeah. Yeah. But the

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reality is the lemon drop, the lemon has affected your taste

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buds, which is then, you know, affect the food. Sure. So that's why I explain

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it that way. And that's why I always tell them. It's like, you make sure,

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you know, you. You come in and you taste these things this way and tell

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people. This is what I tell my. My. My team. So every one of my

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team members, when they start here, they get invited to come and have a

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meal with me, and I literally walk them through the food. I want them to

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experience it firsthand so they can talk about it firsthand when the customer asks them

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a question. Yeah, I love that. I love that. Ben Wong

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from House 1830, thank you so much for joining us and and just

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taking time to peel back the curtain a little bit and into your

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world. I'm so thankful that you brought your family here, that you're

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here, and that you're really making a difference in Northwest Arkansas in

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general, but then also for our stomachs too. So we really

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appreciate it, man. Thank you so much. Thanks for having me. I appreciate it. Absolutely.

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And folks, listen, if you guys come down here to house 1830, be sure to

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tell Ben that you heard about him here first on the I Am Northwest Arkansas

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podcast. Remember, sharing is caring and we really encourage you

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to do that. So that's a wrap on today's episode of I Am

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Northwest Arkansas. Huge thanks to Binh Hoang for sharing

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his story and for reminding us that great food is

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about more than taste. It's about history,

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culture, and integrity. If you haven't yet visited House

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1830 in Rogers, let this be your sign to go.

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Bring your curiosity, come hungry, and be ready to experience

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something truly different. And don't forget, if you're hearing this before

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October 27th of 2025, you've got a chance to catch

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their incredible night Market event where Ben is bringing

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a slice of Vietnam to Northwest Arkansas. If you're hearing

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this after that time, you need to go to their website and

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subscribe or get on their email list to find out when they have upcoming

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events because you don't want to miss it. And as always, thanks for

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listening. And if you enjoyed this conversation, share it with a friend,

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leave a review and follow us wherever you get your podcast.

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I'm your host, Randy Wilburn, and I'll see you next time

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right here on I Am Northwest Arkansas. Peace.

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We hope you enjoyed this episode of I Am Northwest

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Arkansas. Check us out each and every week, available

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anywhere that great podcasts can be found. For show

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notes or more information on becoming a guest, visit

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IM Northwest Arkansas arkansas.com We'll

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see you next week on IM Northwest

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Arkansas.

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