“We don’t have a country, but there are certain dishes that are ours,” Moua said.

She is now making those dishes at Diane’s Place, which she opened this past spring as a breakfast and lunch cafe, and more recently added dinner, slowly revealing her capabilities to a city that knew her best through her exceptional pastries.

Hmong pulled pork is one of the dishes on the dinner menu that is most special to her. She’s eaten it in countless Hmong homes, but had never encountered it on a restaurant menu.

Customers who try it for the first time gain a peek into Hmong kitchens and are introduced, in a way, to the girls and women keeping them running. Others know the dish well, but here, they get to see it in an entirely new light, in the context of fine dining.

“All the ladies that come in, they’re like, ‘We’re so happy to be here,’ and I’m like, ‘Ladies, this is for all of us,’” Moua said. “You know, you can’t get that sisterhood anywhere else. Like, you go to a funeral and you don’t know anybody? Just go in the kitchen, and they’re like, ‘Hey, chop these onions, wash this, do this.’ That’s how you make friends.”

At Diane’s Place, where her children, now 24 and 19, work with her, we all get to become Moua’s friend for a delicious moment.