Dobbertin has been behind some of San Antonio’s most popular and innovative Asian fusion concepts in recent years.

In a sense, San Antonio chef and restauranteur Jennifer Hwa Dobbertin owes her rise to culinary fame to an early morning fight with her mother.

When she was 22 and a recent college grad, she stumbled through the front door of the family home at 4 a.m. following a night on the St. Mary’s Strip.

During the scolding that followed, Dobbertin decided it wasn’t just time to leave home, but leave the country. The second-generation Chinese American saw Asia as a possible escape.

“Our relationship had always been tumultuous, and I’m pretty sure I was still half drunk, but I dragged myself over to my computer and literally typed, ‘Teaching job, Thailand’ in the search bar,” said Dobbertin, now 40. “Seven days later, I was on a plane to Bangkok.”

That move set the stage for the San Antonio native’s culinary journey, which includes not only the popular and well-reviewed Best Quality Daughter at the Pearl, but her recent addition to Taco Bell’s chef-centric collaboration program, TBX. The latter has catapulted her onto a national stage.

Dobbertin’s innovative takes on Asian cuisine and her dedication to lifting up female chefs of all ethnicities have become her trademarks. What’s more, the chef was named a 2023 and 2024 semifinalist in the James Beard Awards, essentially the Oscars of the food industry.

While Bangkok provided an escape for Dobbertin from her overbearing parents, it also provided the roots for her culinary career. The city offered vibrant street life, rich cultural heritage and majestic temples, but it also left the young traveler longing for foods from back home — Tex-Mex, specifically. She began hosting dinner parties with newfound friends, offering her take on American culinary staples.

What began as an effort to cure homesickness unleashed a true passion. She discovered that she thrived on creating in the kitchen.

After six years abroad, she returned to the States and began a career as a social worker. This time, though, the script had flipped. She found herself pining for the Asian flavors she’d grown accustomed to in Thailand.

From pop-ups to the Pearl

In 2012, Dobbertin quit her job in social work to pursue cooking full time.