Saratoga News

Photograph by Edmund Lee

Cindy Chung, owner of the Oriental Gourmet, brings out the lunch special--General Tso's chicken with rice--to a customer.

It's food, drink and song at the Oriental Gourmet

By Suzanne Cristallo

Diners feeling in good voice after a little cherry chicken may want to try karaoke by candlelight at the Oriental Gourmet some Friday or Saturday night. The small Chinese restaurant on S. DeAnza Boulevard at Prospect Road--the one tucked in behind Bank of America at Saratoga's border--offers dinner until midnight on those nights, so a growing assemblage of songsters can test their voices and stage presence.

Owner Cindy Chung, who has been known to take the mic herself, relishes the peaceful atmosphere she has created with plants, green-and-ivory walls and candles on every table. "When it's time for karaoke, we turn out the lights," she says. This leaves small, colored lights on the walls and the candles to create a mood for the crooners.

Chung, 45, and longtime friend Anna Teng, 43, bought the restaurant about nine months ago. While Teng sticks to financial planning for a computer company, Chung manages the restaurant and gives full rein to chef Daniel Liu to create special dishes for their customers.

Besides the cherry chicken, which is crispy and juicy and sweetened with the fruity sauce, some of Liu's entrees include: spicy tangerine beef; stir-fried sesame beef served with a prawn sauce over crunchy noodles; crispy fish, deep fried in vegetable oil and accompanied by fresh herbs and vegetables; and hot and spicy chicken and garlic. A generous range of beers and wines can be ordered to accompany the dishes.

"I hope everybody can taste it," Chung sighs, lamenting the fact that she is restricted from serving more than 100 guests at catered parties because of her small quarters. "I'm so sorry for myself," she says with a laugh.

Chung arrived in San Jose 13 years ago from Taiwan with her husband Thomas, now a building contractor, and their two sons. She spent several years as a waitress and hostess in San Jose before taking a job with The Mandarin Gourmet in Palo Alto, which she credits with thoroughly teaching her the restaurant trade.

Eventually, Chung bought a San Jose eatery that she kept for two years, eventually selling it to buy the Oriental Gourmet, which is close to her West San Jose home--a place, she pouts with humor, that has never benefited from her husband's building skills.

"At first I was angry. He did everyone else's and never did my house. Now I'm used to it," she says.

Instead, she concentrates on the passion of work. All of her favorite things are embodied in owning her own place: Chinese food, meeting new people, singing on stage and creating a peaceful environment. "This is the job I want," she says.

Oriental Gourmet, 1646 S. De Anza Blvd., San Jose. Open daily for lunch 11 a.m.- 2:30 p.m., Dinner Sun.-Thu. 5-9:30 p.m., Fri. and Sat. 5 p.m.-midnight. 253-2345.

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