Restaurateur Billy Dec prepares to open Sunda New Asian in Detroit

Billy Dec is the owner of Sunda New Asian, a Pan-Asian concept with a heavy bent toward Dec’s own Filipino heritage. The original location in Chicago’s River North neighborhood is 17 years old, and the concept’s fifth location, in Detroit, is slated to open in a couple of weeks. 

There are also Sunda locations in Nashville and Tampa.

The décor of the Detroit location reflects Dec’s own heritage more deeply than the other restaurants, with images from his documentary Food Roots, which is currently screening across the country as it prepares to air on PBS.

In this conversation he shares a bit about the documentary as well as his own upbringing and the natural fusion that occurs when taking non-direct flights to the Philippines—stops in Hong Kong, Tokyo or Seoul are common. Dec’s own background is also Eastern European, and that wasn’t lost on him as he was growing up and his household had a cuisine all its own. 

He discusses how culinary curiosity has evolved in the United States, but also how food delivery has taken a bite not only out of profits, but also out of the joy of running restaurants—seeing guests enjoy their meals and embracing the hospitality that is presented to them. 

He also shares his opinion of Detroit, a vibrant, beautiful and welcoming city that Dec thinks other restaurateurs ought to consider for business.

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Menu Talk is a collaboration between Restaurant Business Senior Menu Editor Pat Cobe and Bret Thorn, senior food & beverage editor of Nation’s Restaurant News. You can subscribe to it wherever you listen to podcasts.

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