Christina Nguyen is the Executive Chef and co-owner of Hola Arepa and Hai Hai restaurants in Minneapolis, MN.  Christina is a self-taught chef who started Hola Arepa as a food truck in 2011 with her husband Birk Grudem.  A couple years later, they found a permanent home for Hola Arepa in South Minneapolis.  They serve Venezuelan arepas, Latin American small plates, and tropical cocktails in a space reminiscent of breezy beachside Latin cafes.  Her brunch dish Tostada Chilaquiles was featured on the cover of Food & Wine Magazine in 2015.  Hola Arepa was also named one of Bon Appetit’s 50 Best Restaurants that year too.

A few years later, they transformed an infamous Northeast Minneapolis strip club/dive bar nicknamed the “Deuce Deuce” into their second restaurant called Hai Hai.  The lush plant-filled oasis has a focus on bright & bold Southeast Asian street food, and the menu pulls inspiration from dishes that Christina grew up eating during her Vietnamese upbringing, and from her travels all around Southeast Asia.  Hai Hai has gotten recognition from national press including being on the Best New Restaurants in America lists of Eater, Thrillist, and Esquire Magazine in 2018.  Christina was also named Esquire’s Rising Star Chef of the Year in 2018.  After being nominated as a finalist for a James Beard Award in 2019 & 2020 and as a a semifinalist in 2018 & 2023, Christina won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Midwest for Hai Hai in 2024.