Julie Truong Left Chicago, and Fashion, to Open DD Mau

When Julie Truong made the decision to quit her fashion job and return to St. Louis to open DD Mau (11982 Dorsett Road, Maryland Heights; 314-942-2300), she thought she'd be dropping a bombshell on her friends and family. Their response? "We saw this coming for years."

Looking back, Truong can see why they had such a reaction. From an early age, she was always in the kitchen watching her mother and father prepare traditional Vietnamese dishes for everything from weeknight dinners to celebrations with the extended family. As owners of a chop suey restaurant, they also exposed Truong to the business from an early age — yet she swore she did not want to enter the industry, no matter how much she loved cooking.

For years, Truong made good on that promise. She moved from St. Louis to Los Angeles after high school to attend the Fashion Institute of Design and Management, or FIDM. She returned to Missouri following FIDM to finish her business degree at Mizzou, then moved to Chicago after graduation to start a dream job with Levi's.

However, throughout her studies, and even while climbing the ladder in her chosen career, Truong kept cooking.

"I was always cooking for my friends in Los Angeles, making vegetarian hot-and-sour soup or whatever they wanted," Truong recalls. "When I was at Mizzou, my friends would ask me to do the same. No matter where I went, it seemed like I was always the designated cook.