Slanted Door chef-owner Charles Phan, the celebrated Vietnamese American chef who first brought modern, elevated versions of Vietnamese dishes to San Francisco three decades ago, has died at age 62.Phan was hospitalized with an undisclosed medical emergency last week, and we learned on Sunday that he may have suffered a serious brain injury. An SFist source said that as of Sunday, Phan was on life support, and the cause was cardiac arrest.A statement from Phan's restaurant group said, "It is with profound sadness that we share the heartbreaking news of the unexpected passing of our beloved leader, visionary, and friend, Chef Charles Phan."A separate statement discussed the continuation of Phan's businesses, which include Slanted Door locations in Napa, San Ramon, and Beaune, France. "While this was sudden and shocking to many of us, we will endure as the Slanted Door has for almost 30 years," the restaurant group says. "The restaurants will continue to operate under the leadership of our management team as we navigate this transition."The news likely throws into flux plans to reopen the original Slanted Door location on Valencia Street this year.Phan immigrated to the US with his family before the fall of Saigon when he was 13 years old. "As the eldest of six children, he took on many responsibilities early in life, like cooking for his family," his company says in their statement. "He learned Vietnamese cooking from his mom and aunt and Western cooking by watching television.""Charles was a trailblazer, a dreamer who refused to settle for the status quo," they continue, noting the opening of The Slanted Door in the Mission District in 1995, which was "among the first Vietnamese fine-dining concepts."Phan's tastes and talents were not limited to Vietnamese cuisine either. At different points in the last decade, Phan also ran a Chinese restaurant in the former Slanted Door space on Valencia, Wo Hing General Store, a British pub-inspired restaurant called The Coachman, and a New Orleans-inspired whiskey bar and oyster spot called Hard Water, which closed with the Ferry Building Slanted Door when the pandemic began. In 2022, he opened Chuck's Takeaway, a sandwich spot specializing in his preferred version of the banh mi.Phan won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Pacific in 2004, the same year that The Slanted Door moved in to the big corner space at the northern end of the Ferry Building, and the restaurant won the James Beard for Outstanding Restaurant in the country in 2014.As the Chronicle notes, The Slanted Door was a "fixture" on critic Michael Bauer's annual Top 100 restaurants list, and Bauer wrote, "Charles Phan had more impact on Vietnamese food than any other chef in the country."The remembrances and tributes from the local restaurant community are likely to continue to pour in this week. Previously: Famed SF Chef Charles Phan Hospitalized With Undisclosed Medical EmergencyPhoto via Instagram