From Merrill Lynch to wok station: the daughter of San Francisco’s Chinese food dynasty who defied her parents—by working alongside them

For decades, the crowds outside House of Nanking have been a fixture of San Francisco’s Chinatown, with lines frequently wrapping around the block to get a seat in the cramped, high-energy dining room, under the iconic, multicolored sign that crowns Kearny Street. But for Kathy Fang, the restaurant’s heir apparent, her presence in that kitchen represents a sharp deviation from the “American Dream” her parents envisioned for her—a deviation that initially caused them deep dismay.

Peter Fang...