The chef and her crew churn out dim sum classics such as har gow (shrimp dumplings) and siu mai (pork-and-dried-oyster dumplings). During her 11-year career at the luxury hotel and casino, Shi and her staff of seven have been responsible for executing the daily dim sum orders at Wing Lei, the first Chinese restaurant in North America to receive a Michelin star, as well as Mizumi, Red 8 and Wazuzu. She took this lesson to heart when she became executive dim sum chef for all of the Asian restaurants at Wynn Las Vegas in the late 2000s.
Without the cultural emphasis on dim sum as a communal event to add context to her cooking, Shi had to learn how to transform traditional dishes to suit the American palate-which she found to mean more seasoning and stronger flavors.