At one point, Thoa Nguyen had five restaurants in the Puget Sound area but it just got too crazy.
“I want to enjoy what I’m doing,” Nguyen said. “It’s a lifestyle and a career. You have to love it — the people, the stress and everything that comes with it.”
Nguyen scaled back to two establishments — the original Chinoise on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill, which opened in 1996, and Wabi Sabi, a sushi bar and Japanese restaurant with a Maui influence, which she opened in 2009.
Now, she’s adding another Chinoise (which is French for Chinese), in the Issaquah Highlands.
Chinoise will bring an upscale dining experience with its Pan-Pacific cuisine, to Issaquah. She expects a clientele that is into healthy, fresh food, without any “mystery” ingredients.
Nguyen writes all the recipes — she is the executive chef of all three restaurants and has trained all of her chefs herself.
“You will catch me in the kitchen,” she said. “I like to cook.”
She came to the United States from Vietnam at the age 11 as Saigon fell and the Vietnam war ended. Her father was a Navy SEAL, so she and her family got out on a Navy vessel.
“He was one tough man,” she said.
At age 13 she started cooking at home, then worked in restaurants all through high school and college. She earned her degree in graphic design, but kept coming back to food.
She became the deli manager at Uwajimaya in Bellevue, before being hired to manage all of the Asian Choice deli’s within QFC stores. When the Asian Choice deli’s closed, she opened Chinoise on Queen Anne.
She calls Chinoise Pan-Pacific cuisine, meaning the dishes are from regions stretching from Southeast Asia all the way north to Japan. The only Hawaiian influence at Chinoise is poke, a raw salad served as an appetizer.
Her Pho, which is a Vietnamese noodle soup in a beef broth base, is topped with filet mignon. She recently went to Hanoi, famous for its Pho, and she said her Pho is as good as any you’ll find in Hanoi.
Rice noodle bowls come with crispy spring rolls with grilled salmon, pork tenderloin, shrimp or chicken, and is served with muoc-mam, a sweet and sour chili-based sauce.
On the Chinese side, expect traditional Chinese stir-fry like Mongolian beef, or honey walnut prawns.
Sushi choices include maki or nigri, with tempura and tempura udon soup representing some of the Japanese fare.
Chinoise will offer specialty cocktails such as a mango mojito or a ginger lime margarita, a selection of both white and red wines, saki and beer.
Desserts include coconut sticky rice and mango, coconut ice cream or a fried banana with ice cream.
Nguyen said she keeps it all together because she is very organized and systematic. She said her staff is great, many whom have been with her for 10-15 years.
“We’re like a small family,” she said.
She will mainly be at the Issaquah restaurant but has her trusted chefs who understand her expectations at the others. She and her husband Barry have four children, ages 8 to 28, who all drop in and out working for mom as needed (except the 8-year-old).
Chinoise will be open for lunch Monday through Friday from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and noon to 3 p.m. on weekends, and dinner Monday through Thursday and Sunday from 4 to 9:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays from 4 to 11 p.m. It is located at 936 Park Drive, right by the Regal Cinemas.
For more information visit chinoisesushibarandasiangrill.com.