Thoa Nguyen

Restaurant addiction

Customer addiction is one thing: you want to check out new food, see new places, go back to your favorites. For Thoa Nguyen, the addiction is opening restaurants.

After college in Denver, studying art and accounting, Thoa worked in graphic design for a few years. During and after college, she worked at restaurants part-time. "If I left, I missed it," she says. "I worked in busy/popular Asian restaurants and got to see the real operation. I was front of the house, but drawn to the kitchen, and would make staff meals. It was natural to me; I had cooked for my family starting at age 11 while both my parents worked. There were no cookbooks in our family, we made things from whatever we had."

Thoa didn't plan to get in the restaurant business, but realized she was interested. With her art background, she has planned all her restaurant interiors, and created menus (food and graphics). Her brother moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and she decided to move so he wouldn't be alone (she's the oldest of five siblings). She was tired of Denver's food and snow, and liked Seattle's diverse ethnic makeup as well as its four seasons. In 1991, she got a job at Uwajimaya as manager of Asian Choice, a deli inside the Kirkland store. Over time, they put 3-4 more in various QFCs. After six years, she decided she had more energy than the job required.

On September 10, 1996, she opened Chinoise Café on top of Queen Anne. "It has been my favorite: small but perfect. I had it for 19 years and 16 of those were crazy profitable. Over the past five years, I haven't been there as much because of my other restaurants. I felt like I was deserting my child. In January 2015, I sold it to the manager, Ping Wong, who had been there for years. She's on site and brings new energy." The restaurant is now called Ikiiki.

In 1999, she opened Chinoise in Uwajimaya Seattle; in 2000, Madison Valley; in 2003, Wallingford. Like the original, these were Pan-Asian cafes. Also in 2003, she opened The Islander (photo) on 1^st & Union in downtown Seattle. "I was on a roll; we overflowed with business. Each location was very successful. In 2005, I was starting to feel the pinch of the economy and created an exit plan. I felt I had too many places with the same name and it was feeling like a chain. I wanted to reinvent and leave on a high note." She sold Madison, Uwajimaya, and 45^th before the economy crashed.

In 2007, Thoa traveled to Vietnam with a culinary delegation. It was the first time she'd been back since leaving in 1975. "I was a little nervous, but we had a blast. All the flavors and food came back to me. I knew then I would change The Islander to Thoa's and share Vietnamese food." In 2009, she made the change. After six years of The Islander, she felt the concept was too seasonal. Thoa's was open four years until June 2013 when her lease was up. "The space is very large. The landlord wouldn't half it and I didn't feel it would continue to succeed," she explains.

Dish from Thoa's

Also in 2009, she opened Wabi-Sabi Sushi Bar and Restaurant in Columbia City, offering fresh fish and traditional Japanese dishes. After closing Thoa's in 2013, she opened Chinoise Café in the Issaquah Highlands in November. At this point, she had Queen Anne and Issaquah, and Wabi-Sabi (where some of The Islander dishes found a home). It was enough. But then she was approached with a space in Beardslee Crossing. "I said no for a year," she laughs. "It's a great location, brand new, and we've just started construction." Sushi Chinoise will open mid-January 2016 and offer mostly sushi, some Pan-Asian fare (smaller than the Chinoise Café menus), summer rolls, pho, Pad Thai. "I just couldn't stop myself. I'm addicted to opening restaurants."

Hers is an amazing success story, even more so based on her background. Her father was Vietnamese, and left his family in Vietnam to escape the Communists. He told no one. At 18, he and his best friend started walking with the clothes on their backs and his watch, around Cambodia to South Vietnam, through the jungle at night to avoid being caught and killed. In South Vietnam, he joined the Navy and started a family in his 20s. Thoa's grandmother was a business woman who made the blackest silk in Vietnam, in Ha Dong. Being Vietnamese/Chinese, the family grew up in Cho Lon, the Chinese business district, an area known for food. "I used to pretend I had a restaurant, make friends sit down, and sell them play food."

Vietnamese Pad Thai

The family of seven went to visit their grandmother in Saigon, having no idea it would be their last day in Vietnam. It was April 30, 1975, and her dad's survivor instinct kicked in. They left at night with nothing but the clothes they wore, getting on a Navy ship (her dad was an officer). "It was like a movie; people were frantic." They transferred to an American ship in International waters and taken to a refugee camp in Guam, then flown to Pennsylvania. There they picked a sponsor. Most people went to large metropolitan cities. Her dad wanted them to be American, so he chose Denver where there wasn't such ethnic diversity. "There was no fish sauce! And none of us spoke English." Once settled, both her parents worked, which was when she began cooking for her family.

In January 2015, she flew to New York to be on "Beat Bobby Flay." She beat the New Jersey chef she went up against and had a great viewing party in May at Chinoise Issaquah.

"I give myself another 10 years, then I want to stop and go back to doing art. My business side took over, now I want to do more. I'd love to open a gallery in Hanoi!"

Connie Adams/November 2015

Wabi-Sabi Sushi Bar & Restaurant
4909 Rainier Ave S
Seattle, WA 98118
206-721-0212
www.wabisabicolumbiacity.com

Chinoise Café
936 Park Dr.
Issaquah, WA 98029
425-394-4177
www.chinoisecafe.com

Sushi Chinoise
19122 Beardslee Blvd, Suite 201
Bothell, WA 98011
www.sushichinoise.com (available soon)

Photos courtesy of Thoa Nguyen