Baltimore Chefs Drive 6 Hours To Cook For Terminally Ill Customer

BALTIMORE, MD — It all started when Brandon Jones wanted to treat his mother-in-law dying from lung cancer to one last dish of her favorite meal.

She had grown to love the tempura broccoli at Ekiben, an Asian fusion restaurant in Baltimore, whenever she visited Jones and his wife, her daughter, Rina Jones. But after being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and opting not to undergo treatment, she decided to spend her final days at her home in Vermont.

His mother-in-law joked that, on her deathbed, the only thing she’d want in the world is the tempura broccoli from the restaurant, Brandon Jones said in a Facebook post.

Preparing to visit her for what could potentially be a final goodbye, Jones told The Washington Post, he emailed the restaurant asking if it was willing to provide the recipe for tempura broccoli so that he could cook it for his mother-in-law. Steve Chu, Ekiben's co-owner, offered instead to cook the dish himself free of charge — in Vermont.

“I emailed back, saying, ‘You do know that this is Vermont we’re talking about, right?’” Jones told The Post. “It’s a six-hour drive. But Steve responded, ‘No problem. You tell us the date, time and location and we’ll be there.’”

Rina Jones was floored by the response and told the paper that Chu’s offer was “an incredible act of kindness.”

Chu loaded up his truck with the ingredients for the dish and made the six-hour drive to Vermont on March 12 with Ephrem Abebe, his business partner, and Joe Anonuevo, an Ekiben employee.

“To me, it was a huge honor to be able to help fulfill the family’s wishes,” Chu told The Post. “This is about her, not us. There was a lot of good, positive energy in doing this.”

When the trio arrived to Rina Jones' mother's home, they set up a makeshift kitchen outside as a way to keep everything a surprise and got to work cooking the broccoli tempura along with two other items.

When the dishes were completed, they brought them to the front door, where Rina’s mother answered. She instantly recognized the smell of the food and couldn’t believe what was happening, according to The Post.

Read the rest of Cathy Free's story by visiting The Washington Post's website.