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Photograph by Grant Wernick
Tea Garden chef Chow Fung prepares his Hong Kong noodles for his own lunch in the kitchen of the restaurant.
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Tea Garden restaurant packs
good food into a small space
By Suzanne Cristallo
Got video? Got Chinese? The two seem to go together--a good movie and Tea Garden Chinese take-out, and folks have been making the Los Gatos restaurant on Blossom Hill Road part of their home-bound route for 25 years. The unassuming store seats just six patrons; the counter trade trails in all day, taking home the familiar cartons packed with hot, satisfying food.
Gary Truong remembers his parents' restaurant as the place where he and his siblings did their homework after school. His family purchased the place from the original owners in 1988. He was 14 then. His mother, Kim, did the fry-cooking while his father, Let, fussed over oyster and broccoli sauces for the beef dishes and Szechwan and curry sauces for the hot and spicy dishes. The youngsters took orders, bagged them and ran the cash register. But the school books were always waiting for the off moments.
"Our parents really impressed on us we were to finish college," Gary recalls. "There was no way around it. They gave us lots of leeway to make choices, but they were firm on that."
His mother recalls it somewhat differently. "Our first child was good and graduated, so the rest of the kids followed suit," Kim says, indicating that example more than a sense of "having to" was the impetus.
No matter. This Saturday is graduation day at UCLA for 22-year-old Tommy, the youngest Truong. He follows his sister and brothers, Nancy, 30, and John, 27, both graduates of San Jose State University, and Gary, now 25 and a graduate of UC-Davis.
Kim and Let, both of whom were born in China and speak the Trieu Chow dialect, grew up in Vietnam, where they met. Sponsored by an uncle, they emigrated to Louisiana near Baton Rouge in 1980. Eventually they moved to San Jose, where Kim became an assembler for Fry's Electronics and Let worked in restaurants, gaining the experience he needed to buy the Tea Garden.
What Let learned is evident in the variety his Tea Garden gourmet dinner provides for two people. For $16.50, the special includes golden chicken nuggets, fresh fried shrimp, beef chow mein, sweet and sour pork, egg rolls and fried rice.
The main menu lists eight different chop sueys--dishes that date back to the mid-19th century and are American in origin. Small pieces of meat or shrimp, mushrooms, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, bamboo shoots and onions are cooked together and served over rice. In addition, there are 10 different chow meins of Chinese-American origin, which combine similar ingredients, except they are fried separately, then combined at the last minute and served over crisp noodles.
There are 16 traditional chicken, 21 beef and pork and 15 shrimp dishes priced from $5.95 to $8.25. Appetizers such as chicken nuggets and pot stickers stimulate the appetite along with soups like wor won ton and egg flower. They can be followed by any of several egg foo yung dishes--eggs combined with vegetables or meats, then pan-fried like pancakes until golden brown and topped with chicken broth or soy sauce. Lunch plates run under $4.50 and include a minimum of three dishes, as do combination plates served any time.
Today, Gary still comes to the restaurant for lunch before going to work as a San Jose police officer. The whole family gathers at the parents' San Jose home for Sunday dinner.
"But Mom and Dad have taken a step back and let others help with the cooking now," says Gary. Several Leigh High School students run the front counter, grabbing time with their school books when they can.
Tea Garden Chinese Restaurant, 14030 Blossom Hill Road, Los Gatos. Open Mon.- Fri. 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m., Sat. 4-9 p.m. Closed Sunday. Call 408.356.0022 for orders.
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Los Gatos, California Since 1881
