The Sun
Sunnyvale's Newspaper

Photograph by Robert Scheer

Frank Zhuang proudly presents a platter of broccoli chicken at Judy's Kitchen.

Sometimes, good things come in small packages

By Pam Marino

It is just a little kitchen in a little restaurant, but if you ask loyal customers, they tell you that out of that small space comes some of the best Chinese food in the area.

Judy's Kitchen has been a very popular restaurant among Cupertino residents in the western end of the city ever since Frank Zhuang and his wife Jing Feng took over five years ago from the original owner, named Judy. The restaurant sits on the corner of McClellan Road and Foothill Boulevard in an older strip mall that also houses Stevens Creek Market and Apollo Restaurant.

A few customers eat lunch every day at Judy's Kitchen to take advantage of the $3.99 special. The lunches come with soup, a small spring roll, an entrée and steamed rice. Many more residents come in two to three times each week.

And Zhuang knows them all--if not by name, then by what they eat.

He can tell you who likes the beef, chicken, pork or shrimp dishes, who prefers vegetables and which soup they regularly order.

Zhuang will even custom-make dishes for those who ask. Cupertino resident John Allam, who has eaten at Judy's at least twice a week for almost two years, gets a special meal every Wednesday of brown rice instead of the usual white steamed rice, soup and a seafood entrée with no salt or sugar, easy on the spices. Zhuang calls it "John Style."

Zhuang masterfully creates dishes mainly to please American palettes in his small kitchen seven days a week, year-round. In fact, except for major holidays and rare days when out-of-town family is visiting, Zhuang and Feng have worked daily without a vacation for five years.

Zhuang came to the United States from China eight years ago. He worked in downtown San Jose as the chief cook at House of Cathay, but soon decided to strike out on his own.

"In America you will earn money, you will gain the good life, but you must set up goals and go ahead to the goals," Zhuang said. "So I determined to buy a restaurant."

Local residents come in for the food, but also for the attentive service of Feng and the big smile, "hello" and wave from Zhuang from the kitchen in back.

They work hard, but Zhuang is confident the hard work will pay off when he decides to hang up his apron and retire one day.

And next year they will take their first vacation in six years, when they return to China to visit Zhuang's mother on his 50th birthday.

Judy's Kitchen, located at 10635 S. Foothill Blvd. in Cupertino, is open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. on weekdays, and for dinner from 4:45 to 9:30 p.m. daily. The phone number to place orders to go or in advance is 253-3934.

[ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ]

This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, February 11, 1998.
©1998 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.