‘Fresh Off the Boat’ author Eddie Huang spills on new novel — and why he prefers New York to LA

Eddie Huang — the cult chef who made it in Hollywood as the producer of the long-running hit ABC series “Fresh Off the Boat” — is back with a debut novel that’s also headed to the screen.

Like so many industryites, Huang has exited LA while still working in the business — and he reopened the resto that made him famous, Baohaus, in NYC this year. The former host of Viceland’s “Huang’s World” tells Page Six Hollywood he’s writing a screen adaptation of his new book, “Come Undone,” to be produced by “Tell Me Lies” executive producer and director Jonathan Levine.

Huang was also in LA last Thursday for a high-profile book reading at New Roads School and a talk moderated by acclaimed novelist-turned-screenwriter Ottessa Moshfegh. But that meant Huang — who received a law degree in NYC before becoming a chef, and who’s a Chalamet-level Knicks fan without the courtside seats — missed the NBA champs’ Canyon of Heroes parade.

“I was bummed,” the rock ‘n’ roll restauranteur told us. “But I got a beautiful photo of my son who was there and I’m glad my family got to experience it.” He’d watched Game 5 with close friends at Baohaus in the East Village. “The buzzer rang and it was ecstasy,” he said. “It’s finally settled in and we’re learning how to be champions.”

The LA leg of Huang’s book tour was a homecoming of sorts for the 44-year-old. Starting in 2019, he lived in LA for five years during which he tried on a variety of enclaves: Malibu, DTLA, Mid-City, Hollywood Hills, Bel-Air.

“Mid-City was the first real neighborhood I lived in. You could walk to places, we had friends, and honestly, I could make do with City Spa, discount liquors, Bloom and My 2 Cents. I regret leaving there,” he said. In early 2024 he moved back to New York, moth to a flame. He became famous for opening the critically acclaimed Baohaus in 2011 before closing the eatery in 2020 due to the pandemic. (“Fresh Off the Boat” ran for six seasons from 2015 to 2020.)

Nowadays, when he rolls through LA he posts up at the Sunset Tower, schedules back-to-back meetings, tries to squeeze in a hike and eats as much Korean and Persian food as his intestinal tract will allow. “I got a lot of love for LA,” he says.

Throughout his career, Huang has done just about everything. He briefly worked at a blue chip law firm before he stumbled into a life as a chef, restaurateur, media personality, author, director and now novelist. It was a rapid ascent that hit its apex in 2014, when ABC ordered a series based on his memoir, “Fresh Off the Boat.”

But Huang established his bona fides when he later openly criticized the show for sanitizing his origin story growing up as a Taiwanese immigrant raised in Virginia.

“Come Undone” is described as a semi-autobiographical romantic comedy that centers on a food show host who’s working through his red flags as they pertain to his personal life. He’s a commitment-phobe who limits relationships to three months, but his world flips when he meets Anastasia (a character based on his wife, Natashia Blanca), who has as many “red flag” hangups as he does.

Huang didn’t originally set out to write a rom-com. The initial pitch he sold to One World, an imprint of Random House, centered on a sushi chef who was an aspiring MMA fighter, a story which he abandoned. But he now finds himself fighting for his novel’s place in the classic standard of a rom-com story.

“I think it fits that genre in the same way that ‘Anora’ fits the genre,” he says referring to the Academy Award-winning, genre-defying film that was written, directed, produced and edited by Sean Baker. In his estimation, seminal rom-coms include “Pretty Woman” (“I believe I developed a boot fetish from that film”), “High Fidelity” and “Annie Hall.” He stands firm on the idea that “Good Will Hunting” is also a rom-com.

“One of the biggest mistakes Hollywood has been making is that they still try to define films by a definition and an understanding of a genre that dates back to the 1980s. I hate to break it to you, but that was 40 years ago. I just see it differently.”

And while he may have love for LA, negotiating life as a prominent writer/producer seems more comfortable from Manhattan. He uses a restaurant metaphor to explain.

“This town makes it so difficult to set up your station — to use a kitchen metaphor. In LA it feels like you are always setting up and you never get to cook and that’s frustrating never getting to cook. I had a sous chef who had a lot of issues and he just couldn’t get the line set and one of the line cooks came to me and he said, ‘Yo chef, are we gonna get to cook… because I need to cook,’” he said. “I just wish Hollywood would do that more.”