Muffins and more come from the ovens of SK Donut Shop
By Suzanne Cristallo
At the SK Donut Shop in Los Gatos' Rinconada Center, a cup of coffee is still 75 cents. In fact, most of the items on the big wall-menu in this modest shop fall in the two-digit range. It's a family operation.
Phosay Vilaysack and his wife, Som, start every day of the week in the dark, helped after school by son Paul, a De Anza College student studying computer graphic design.
At midnight, Phosay arrives to start his 16-hour day while many of his neighbors are just turning off the TV and settling in for the night. He heats up the vats of fresh soybean oil and drops in the rings, rounds, twists and squares of dough that bubble into old-fashioned, buttermilk, maple, French and raisin jelly pastries, filling the shop with spicy aromas.
In hot ovens, he places trays lined in neat rows with crescent-shaped rolls of buttery yeast dough stuffed with blueberries, strawberries, almonds and cheese. And in generous-sized muffin tins, cakelike bread rises with the heat to form eight-ounce blueberry, banana nut, poppyseed and apple bran muffins--all low-fat in deference to health-conscious patrons.
At 5 a.m., Som arrives to help line the display cases with the freshly baked goods and to rev up the coffee pots. By 5:30 a.m., neighbors and early commuters begin arriving. It's another day not unlike the others that have made up the Vilaysack family's life seven days a week for the 10 years they have owned the shop.
It is a far cry from life in their early years. Phosay, 47, was born in southern Laos in a town near the Cambodian border. There he attended Chinese school, where he met Som through the gentle arranging of their parents. Initially, he worked as a machine cutter in a steel factory.
Tall and prone to wide grins, Phosay giggles and looks away when asked of his first impression of Som. They were married two years after they met. Within a short time, the young couple and Phosay's parents were fleeing their homeland, which was besieged by conflict, for the safety of Australia. There Phosay learned the skill of furniture making, eventually becoming a citizen and remaining for 16 years.
Meanwhile, Som's family had emigrated to the United States, settling in the town of Dublin, where an elder son had started a doughnut shop. Seeking the legendary opportunity afforded by the United States, the Vilaysacks eventually joined their family with their own young son and began an apprenticeship in doughnut making. A year later, in 1989, they started their own shop in Los Gatos, keeping the name given by previous owners.
Reflecting on his life in two English-speaking countries, Phosay readily offers that "Australians and Americans are good people," adding after a quiet smile, "but they say things differently."
SK Donut Shop, 1440 Pollard Road, Los Gatos. Open Mon.-Fri., 5:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m., and Sat. and Sun., 5:30 a.m.-noon. 408.374.3718.
|
Los Gatos, California Since 1881
Phosay Vilaysack starts his day at midnight, about the time his neighbors are curling up for the night and thinking, perhaps, of stopping by SK Donut Shop on the way to work.
