SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Things don’t always go as planned in the kitchen, even for a Michelin star chef like Brandon Jew of Mister Jiu’s.

“The wok is on fire,” exclaimed Jew as he prepared some Mongolian beef at his casual eatery Mamahuhu in San Francisco’s Inner Richmond area.

Jew was probably a little nervous since he was making the dish as a tribute to Chinese food legend Martin Yan, who was standing next to him narrating what was going on.

“Brandon is on fire,” joked Yan as Jew blew air on the edge of the wok.

Jew got the idea of making the dish after watching an old episode of Yan Can Cook.

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“The video of Martin doing this dish on Yan Can Cook. It’s so awesome, said Jew as he directed his comments to Yan. “You’re talking about the texture and the flavor while entertaining everybody. That’s not easy, I could barely do it just on my own right here.”

Yan acknowledges that cooking food has an element of entertainment.

“Food is art. We try to entertain people with our food when people look at the color, the texture and the aroma.”

Jew said he is offering the dish at Mamahuhu during the month of May to honor Yan’s influence on Chinese American cooking.

“What you’ve done is allows us in the next generation to take on continuing to move Chinese food,” said Jew who uses seasonal California ingredients on his take of Cantonese cuisine.

Yan said there should never be a question on whether a dish is authentically Chinese if it follows some traditional principles.

“The authenticity relies on the execution of the dish. Cut in small sizes, marinate it, cook at high temperature for a short time and toss them,” explained Yan who said he never had asparagus or broccoli when he was growing up in China, ingredients that are common now in Chinese American cuisine.

Jew is proud of chefs who came before him and invented staples such as chow mein, chop suey, broccoli beef and sweet and sour chicken.

“A lot of Chinese American food was adapted from Chinese flavors to an American palate. And there was a generation that was understood the power of food to get people to come to Chinatown, to love Chinese food and to open them up to our culture,” said Jew who then saluted Martin Yan.

“Martin is the person who allowed so many other people like me to be able to continue the legacy of Chinese American food.”