Le Colonial's Chef was born and raised in Saigon in the former South Vietnam. He did not originally set out to have a culinary career, although he grew up learning the arts of the kitchen from his mother and frequently participated in the preparation of his family's meals. After his early schooling, young Viet Tran was planning to study engineering, and to that end, he moved to Texas in 1974. There, he began to cook in Vietnamese restaurants as a means of supporting his studies.

Soon Tran found that the creativity and discipline of the kitchen suited him, and he began cooking professionally in 1981, at a bistro in New York City. After a stint at The Sheik Club, he was hired as the executive chef of Indochine, where he remained until 1988.

For the next four years Tran traveled and developed his cooking talents by working in a variety of restaurants both in New York and Saigon. He became the Chef of Le Colonial when it opened in December of 1993. When the Chicago Le Colonial opened in July of 1996, Tran became a partner in the company, directing the kitchen in Chicago as well as in New York.