Photograph by Skye Dunlap
Owner Richard Lao serves food as diverse as corn dogs and kung pao chicken at the Wolfe Cafe.
Wolfe Cafe: A place for Hong Kong-style food
By Pam Marino
There's literally something for everyone--with an Asian twist--at Wolfe Cafe.
Spaghetti? Corn dogs for the kids? Kung pao chicken? It's all on the menu at the restaurant run by Richard Lao. The diverse menu reflects the diversity of the city that inspired the food: Hong Kong. Lao describes the food he serves as Hong Kong-style American food. It's food from around the world that residents in that international city have come to love, with the tastes adjusted to an Asian palate.
Spaghetti and macaroni are well-loved in Hong Kong, Lao said.
"In Hong Kong they are very, very popular because the people there like the spaghetti," he said. The tastes of Hong Kong's younger generation is turning more and more to foods from different parts of the world, he said.
Hong Kong is a city on the go, where cultures are absorbed quickly, according to Lao. The result is a mixing of food from various cultures.
Many of the entrees at Wolfe Cafe are cooked in a French style, in individual baking dishes. The concept comes from not only France, but Italy, Spain, India and all over the Orient.
So it's not unusual at Wolfe Cafe to see baked Lisbon chicken on top of rice or spaghetti, or curried pork chops, or sweet and sour pork, or even fried chicken and French fries for kids.
Some of the more popular dishes are the baked seafood entrees, like baked sole filet with spinach, or the baked seafood combination. They are served on top of either rice or spaghetti.
Chinese dishes that are well-received by customers include kung pao chicken, diced chicken with cashews, sweet and sour pork, beef with broccoli and shrimp with garlic sauce.
Lao said he is adding chow fun, or dishes with rice noodles, because a number of customers have asked for them.
Appetizers range from French-style escargot to fried chicken wings. Soups include items like clam chowder, French onion soup, borscht and corn cream soup. There are sandwiches like the club sandwich, ham and egg, turkey and tuna.
The "Chef's Specials" include grilled sole filet, New York steak and Korean-style beef short ribs.
Wolfe Cafe also offers hot and cold drinks and desserts, with ice cream flavors ranging from vanilla to green tea. Wolfe Cafe also has shave ice.
Prices range from $5.95 to $7.95 for many entrees, with seafood and chef's specials running higher; the chefs specials are $12.95 each and come with salad, soup, roll, coffee or tea, and rice or spaghetti.
Kids' meals, for children under age 10, cost $3.95 each; they come with soda and ice cream.
Wolfe Cafe is in Cupertino Village at 10851 N. Wolfe Road, Cupertino. Phone is (408) 777-9398. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Sunnyvale, California Since 1994
