Taste the MAGIC

We all know families of dentists or nurses, police or army men and women, teachers or mechanics, but Di Long is from a family of chefs.

With ties to restaurants such as Szechuan, Soba Noodles, 5 Fusion & Sushi Bar and Tomo Sushi, Long and her family are among Bend’s culinary royalty. It’s in her blood. But Di surprised everyone — including herself — four years ago when she undertook the transition from a chef, well adept at savory Asian fare, to classically trained French baker and owner of one of Central Oregon’s favorite bakeries, La Magie in downtown Bend.

“I grew up in my parents’ restaurant,” said Long. “We didn’t have babysitters growing up, and of course my parents worked nights, so (my brothers and I) would go do our homework at the restaurant.”

At at early age, Long started knife skills and cooking methods.

“I was probably 11 when I started helping out, little stuff like folding potstickers and chopping vegetables. … We always knew techniques. We didn’t know the fancy name like brunoise or julienne. We just knew dice, large dice, small dice,” said Long with a laugh.

Unlike many of her Mountain View High School classmates, Long would spend her post-homework evenings racing her brother Howie to see who could peel shrimp or debone chicken the fastest.

“We were never required to do it,” she said. “We say it as we got to do it. It was just fun.”

After high school, Long attended the University of Oregon where she earned her bachelor’s in business before returning to Bend and beginning to work in restaurants full time.

“I wish I had gone, but didn’t go to culinary school,” Long added. “I didn’t even know that culinary school was such a thing. I learned on the job.”

But in 2010, while working as the executive chef at 5 Fusion in downtown Bend, her pastry chef quit.

“She gave her two weeks notice, but had to leave in four days,” said Long. “One thing she made was this amazing chocolate cake, but once she was gone, we realized that no one else knew how to make it.”

Lilian Chu, Long’s business partner at 5 Fusion, turned to her with a question that at the time no one knew would change Long’s life: “Do you know how to bake?”

Of course, Long didn’t, and both she and Chu’s husband enrolled for a two-day course at the International School of Baking in Bend with a singular objective: learn how to make a chocolate cake.

Under the instruction of Marda Stoliar, the school’s owner, Di spent the next two days learning the finer points of both cake and frosting technique.

“There was this light that came on,” Long said. “It was my chance to get a taste of culinary school. I read a lot of books and of course cook at the restaurant, but it’s so fascinating to get to learn under someone, and I just enjoyed the way that [Marda] taught. There was something about it that made learning easier.”

“It was like this whole world opened up for her,” added Stoliar. “She finished the course, but soon after figured out how she could come for an intensive six-week course.”

Stoliar’s classes are intense and are coveted by bakers around the world. She only takes one to two students at a time, and instruction happens for a solid one to two months, five days a week, 8-10 hours daily.

“It’s not for entertainment purposes,” Stoliar said. “This is for people that are serious about wanting to learn about baking.

“Di was one of my most serious students, completely focused. We’d work on chocolate and isomalt (sugar substitute) techniques all day, and she’d still go home and study books at night. … She was so serious about learning that I didn’t even know she was pregnant at the time!”

But perhaps Stoliar’s highest praise comes not on Long’s technique but on who she is as a person.

“She’s so funny,” said Stoliar. “She’s hilarious, and that wit, that quick mind is part of what makes her such a great baker. You can see her mind is clicking all the time. She sees every detail. She’s always thinking about how to be more and more creative. … I’m so very proud to have a student like Di in my community. It’s great to have students from around the world come to take classes with me and be able to go downtown to Di’s bakery and show them what’s possible. I’m very proud of what she’s learned and what she’s doing.”

“I don’t really know what I’m doing,” added Di with a laugh. “I just know that I love doing it, and so I keep going. I took business in college, but for me, it was never about the money. Restaurants are so hard to make money at anyway. I just like doing this stuff. I don’t really know how a ‘classic’ restaurant works. I just learned by watching and doing. It’s always been a part of me.”

But even with her modesty, the delectable treats and loyal customers at La Magie prove otherwise. Long certainly knows how to wield the magic behind strawberry tarts, chocolate truffle cake, classic almond croissant and the in-house Magie Cream Puffs, a local favorite.

Long’s husband, David Cho, previously the head sushi chef at Tomo, also works at La Magie when he can, and together they are raising three girls, Schuyler, 8, Mia, 6, and Kingsley, 4. Even with the hectic life of restaurateurs, the whole family — including Di’s mom, brothers and family friends — gets together every Sunday for dinner.

“We’re a very close family,” said Long. “My brother Howie lives literally across the street, and my brother Tim lives down the street two minutes away. … We cook anything — Vietnamese food, prime rib, just whatever. It’s just important that we’re all together.”

With work at two sushi restaurants, and now a French bakery under her belt, Long also plans to go back to her original Chinese family-style of cooking with a new restaurant — Chi — next April.

“It’s definitely my baby, but everyone in the family is pitching in.”

Chi will have a clear Chinese focus, with traditional dishes elevated by modern plating techniques.

“I wanted to incorporate what we have at our Sunday dinners, really intense flavors, using traditional Chinese vegetables — gai lan, fresh water chestnuts, king oyster mushrooms.”

The restaurant will also have a sushi bar with both traditional and fusion rolls.

“My father already passed away,” said Long. “But he hated Japanese food,” she added with a laugh.

“He would be laughing at us for having sushi in our restaurant … except that he also knew everything is and would be unexpected in life, and for us to just go where the road takes you. I never expected to be where I am now, but I’ve had a lot of fun getting here.”