Eric Huang is the chef and by-accidental founder of Pecking House.  While growing up in his family’s Chinese restaurant he had a rather stereotypical, Asian-American childhood of training as a cellist at The Juilliard School.  He would renounce the instrument and take a five-year victory lap at Northwestern University as the world’s worst history major before finally deciding that he was going to become a chef.  Though he helped out at his family’s establishment his entire life, the small town cooking gigs he took on in college would be the first time he cooked professionally.  Eric then trained in Michelin-starred restaurants in New York City for over 10 years, beginning at Cafe Boulud, then Gramercy Tavern, and finally Eleven Madison Park.  He was a sous chef there with the team that earned the title of “Best Restaurant in the World'' in 2017.  He would move on from his position in January 2020 with hopes of opening his own Michelin-starred restaurant, but a global pandemic stymied his efforts.  Eric instead returned home to help his family’s restaurant that had been shuttered due to the lockdown.