Asian food party

Wendy Leon with celebrity Chloë Sevigny. Photo © Caleb Lin.

"we are particular more into meals than our company is into fashion, " says Humberto Leon. That is an astonishing declaration through the co-owner (with Carol Lim) of the ultrahip garments shop Opening Ceremony, that has outposts in New York, l . a . and Tokyo. The pair are recognized for championing brilliant indie developers like Band of Outsiders and working together with tastemakers like celebrity Chloë Sevigny (left) on clothing outlines, but their shops reveal their food fixation, too. The Tokyo store, as an example, has a restaurant named Potluck that serves coffee from cult roaster Blue Bottle Coffee Co. and an East-West mix of meals. "Japanese restaurants cannot offer brunch, so we do make-your-own omelets, " Humberto says. "therefore we introduced [the Vietnamese sandwich] banh mi to Japan." A Potluck cookbook is within the works as well.

Opening service boutique. Photo © Caleb Lin.

Humberto features his meals fixation in part to his mother, Wendy, a Hong-Kong–raised cook and caterer whom cooks over 20 dainty classes for starting Ceremony's events. For a 55-person dinner co-hosted with hip-hop singer M.I.A. in honor of fashion designer Alexander Wang, she produced meals like avocado-pepper summer moves with chile-lime dipping sauce. "In Chinese, we've a saying: You eat initially with your eyes, your nostrils, your lips, " she says. The woman meals on after pages engage all these senses.

Making Picky Eaters Happy

Wendy Leon, who caters the woman son's Opening service functions, informs just how she manages the special needs of star visitors.

1. No beef

   Leon loves to braise chicken stomach in a five-spice broth, then top it with a fermented tofu sauce. But for actor Jason Schwartzman, a vegetarian, she exchanged the chicken belly for tofu.

2. No mushrooms

   Director Spike Jonze doesn't look after mushrooms, so Leon modified her pork-loaf meal for him, substituting cubes of pushed tofu the shiitake.

3. No shellfish