Photograph by George Sakkestad
The operation at the Yong Lo Garden restaurant is a regular family project with (left to right) Harry, Richard, Lisa and Frank Kuo each playing a role.
Yong Lo Garden restaurant is serving up family favorites
By Suzanne Cristallo
The aloha spirit has arrived in Quito Village. The Kuo family from Oahu, Hawaii, just opened Yong Lo Garden--formerly Old Siam restaurant in the Saratoga shopping center--and neighbors with a yen for northern Chinese cuisine served with "aloha" are flocking to it.
"I'm so glad you're here," Orlando Gutierrez, an employee from the 24-Hour Fitness Center next door, was overheard saying. "We needed a good Chinese restaurant."
Gutierrez was picking up his take-out order of Mongolian beef and chow mein. He was right behind a fellow employee, Hawaiian-born Joe Alison, who had picked up some hot and spicy noodle soup.
"My dad makes all of our noodles by hand," says 18-year-old Harry Kuo, the youngest of owners Richard and Lisa Kuo's three sons. The college education of Harry and his brother, Frank, 19, was the reason the Kuos moved to San Jose recently. Presently, the brothers are at De Anza College, but their studies in finance and marketing will continue at one of three local universities they are considering for their upper-division studies. A third son, David, 22, is studying computer science at the University of Hawaii.
The Kuos left a successful restaurant they ran for 23 years in the islands--the K.W. Paradise restaurant in the Ala Moana shopping center near Waikiki. But they brought with them their menu. It features the northern Chinese dishes handed down through Richard's family, which had migrated to Korea from San Dong, north of Shanghai, China, before coming to Hawaii.
"My dad's been cooking for a long time--since he was just out of high school--and he does all of the cooking here," notes Harry, who helps out after classes with his brother, Frank, waiting tables. His mother, Lisa, also waits tables and helps in the kitchen. The only other employee in the restaurant, which seats 30, came with the family from Hawaii.
"We call him 'Uncle,' " says Harry. "Calling a person 'Uncle,' 'Auntie' or 'Grandpa' is a sign of respect and the way we keep people close, like family. We were raised that way--to show respect, so they don't feel like too much of a stranger."
Already, a bond is developing in the Village among the neighboring businesses. On May 4, opening day for the restaurant, the Korean family a few doors down at the Sushi Two Two Train restaurant came to welcome the newcomers, along with the employees from the fitness center. "We want to keep our customers as happy as possible and treat them like family," says Harry, whose middle name, Yong Lo--meaning 'always happy'--was incorporated into the restaurant name.
Customer satisfaction most likely will come from the special treatment Richard gives dishes. Most popular so far are Mongolian beef, which is Harry's favorite; sweet and sour pork, which Koreans favor because Harry says "it is made like what they got back home"; shrimp with hot garlic sauce, which is Lisa's favorite, and deep-fried chicken with hot garlic sauce, which is David's favorite.
"Lots of customers favor the deep-fried chicken, because of Dad's sauce," observes Harry. "It has lots of garlic, carrots, green onions, and hot chile peppers." The dishes--and there are more than 100 of them--usually run in the $7-$9 range. Lunch specials, which include the more popular dishes, run in the $5-$7 range and include an egg roll and a choice of chow mein or fried or steamed rice.
Notable among Richard's family recipes is San Dong chicken, which originates from his grandparents in China. The chicken is marinated overnight, steamed, then mixed with another sauce and chopped cucumbers, and served cold.
Yong Lo Garden, located at 18782 Cox Ave. in Saratoga, is open daily 11:30 a.m.-9:30 p.m. For more information, call 408.866.1678.
Saratoga, California Since 1955
