It's a Texas tradition that cooks name their smokers and that they get passed down to their sons and, in some cases, grandsons. Dilda and Acker bestowed the moniker "Xiaopangzi" (little fatty) on theirs, a nod to its unique short, round shape.
"It's like a buddy to me," says Dilda.
After a year's discussions about the menu, followed by the design of the pub, Dilda flew to China for his first trip when the kitchen was completed last August.
"It didn't really hit me until I was flying over," he reminisces, "until we were approaching Beijing in the airplane and I could just see the city. That's when I realized this was really happening."
He met Acker for the first time when he walked out of the elevator in the lobby of his hotel in Beijing, and they spent two weeks familiarizing him with his Chinese team in the kitchen.
When he was back in US, like a loving parent, he would call to check up on his smoker and answer questions to keep the kitchen running smoothly.
By the end of 2017, Jing A Brewery won an editor's choice award for both American cuisine and best pub food at the That's Beijing Golden Fork Awards.
Dilda came back to Jing A Brewpub for the third time in February to launch a new brunch menu.
During his stay, he has also been exploring Chinese food－asking his colleagues in the kitchen to take him to try local breakfasts or finding regional cuisines to enjoy with his team after a day's hard work in the kitchen.
From youtiao (fried bread sticks) and soy milk to sliced noodles from Shanxi province, Dilda has enjoyed all the food he tried and is planning to take some of the Chinese food and ingredients back to the US.
"I'm doing guest-chef takeovers in the kitchens of some breweries in Dallas, and I want to bring back the noodles from China," says Dilda, who has taken pictures of the noodles' preparations. He has also inspired his teammates to make a sausage with Sichuan peppers in a Texas-based charitable cooking competition called Meat Fight.
"What's exciting for me coming from a culinary standpoint," he concludes, "is to experience the food in China."
