In 1995, Charles Phan or his family started their first restaurant, The Slanted Door - The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, in the Mission district in San Francisco with an honest vision of serving vibrant home-style Vietnamese food in the modern setting. Charles received the James Beard Award for Best Chef California in 2004 or The Slanted Door - The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace awarded Outstanding Restaurant in 2014. Charles wrote two cookbooks :"Vietnamese Home Cooking"2012 or"The Slanted Door - The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace"2014, both of which won IACP awards in First Cookbook or Photography respectively.