Grace and Leo Xia, Duck N’ Bao and Hongdae 33 Korean BBQ
Feb 10, 2025, 1:30 PM UTC+0
Working in the restaurant industry requires a lot of commitment. Being a chef, server, or bartender means spending most days working at your craft while trying to make ends meet or make a culinary dream come to fruition. For many food and hospitality workers, that also means building a life at work that’s full of friends who become family, or …dare we say lovers? It’s no coincidence, then, that Houston’s dining scene is full of couples who met while working in the industry, and through all the ups and downs, they’re still going strong. Here’s a roundup of some of the Houston restaurant and bar scene’s most interesting couples and how they met.
Grace Xia says she was out shopping one day when she got a craving for shredded pork in garlic sauce, her favorite Chinese dish, but she was having a hard time finding a restaurant that could make it right. A Google search for the closest Chinese restaurant to her landed her at Green Garden in Cypress. While placing her order to go, Leo Xia walked out of the kitchen.
“I thought, ‘Oh, he’s Chinese. Let’s talk,’” says Grace, who then worked as a tech consultant. After a brief conversation, the two exchanged numbers. “We didn’t really have that [romantic] feeling,” Grace says, but she was interested in whether Green Garden could deliver. Once she returned home, Grace says she was surprised by the flavor of the shredded pork. “I texted him immediately. ‘It’s really delicious,” she says. She ordered it a second time. She texted him again. “I told him it wasn’t as good as last time. I was just being honest.”
Soon, simple texts evolved into full-blown conversations. Grace and Leo found they shared a deep appreciation for restaurants and would talk non-stop about the food and hospitality business. After a year of friendship, Grace says they began dating in 2017 and married in 2018. Soon, they began opening restaurants together, transforming Green Garden into what is now Duck N’ Bao and opening additional locations in Memorial and Rice Village. Grace, who typically runs the front-of-house and the finances, and Leo, who runs the kitchen, also own Hongdae 33 Korean BBQ, an all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue restaurant, and plan to open two entirely new restaurants in the near future.
The couple, who have a daughter, says the key to surviving in the restaurant industry as a married couple is looking at the bigger picture — the restaurant is not just a job; it’s an entire business and livelihood. There have been some arguments, but it’s all about working together, Grace says, and sometimes, compromise. “My husband is a really good listener. He tries to make me happy, so he does everything I want,” Grace says, laughing.
Leo agrees: “Happy wife, happy life!”
Original Article: https://houston.eater.com/2025/2/10/24362040/houston-restaurant-power-couples-love-stories
Opening Hours:
Sunday to Thursday: 11:30AM – 12:00AM
(Last seating at 11:00PM, kitchen closes at 11:30PM)
Friday & Saturday: 11:30AM – 2:00AM
(Last seating at 1:00AM, kitchen closes at 1:30AM)