Gas Cooking at Home with La Tour Café CEO

See why Trung Lam uses gas both professionally and personally.

Ask any chef, and they’ll likely tell you that they use gas in their commercial kitchen. For one thing, it’s typically less costly than electricity — and when your range is running for hours on end, that adds up to major savings. But while cost is a big factor for many, for Trung Lam, CEO of La Tour Café, it’s all about speed.

“From what I’ve experienced with [our] chefs, gas cooks a lot quicker,” he explains. “Induction is quick as well, but it’s not as robust as gas.” Lam, whose company has five locations across Oahu, adds that because his staff is often bustling about through the kitchen, dishes and other equipment get banged around — and induction burners just aren’t sturdy enough. 

When he and his family moved into a new home this past April, they decided to incorporate gas energy into their personal lives as well. “There’s something about cooking with [a flame] that just makes food better,” Lam says. He describes how much faster their new range heats up compared to their old electric stove, and how the resiliency of gas energy gives him peace of mind.

“For me,” he explains, “I like the idea of having gas in case there’s a power outage, so we can still cook if we have to. We have battery backups for our house, but I like having dual fuels on the property; in case one goes down, we have the other.”