Beloved SLO County Chinese restaurant closing after 30 years. ‘It’s just so special’
After almost 30 years of serving up potstickers, egg rolls and hot-and-sour soup at their Madonna Road restaurant, Elaine and Eric Truong are moving on from their beloved Mandarin Gourmet restaurant in San Luis Obispo — though they might not be disappearing from the local food scene entirely.
The Truongs say they plan to retire and close the business for good at the end of the day on Dec. 31.
“I chose that day because it’s a day for celebration — we celebrate a new year,” Elaine Truong told The Tribune in an interview. “So we want to also celebrate our last day of business, a new year and we can all look forward to a wonderful 2022.”
Truong, who purchased the restaurant with husband Eric in 1992, said the decision to move on from the restaurant was bittersweet.
“It’s not because the business has gone down,” she said. “Our business is very successful — people love us. We just get busier and busier.”
But she and her husband, who have been working in restaurants for more than 40 years, aren’t getting any younger, Truong said.
Add into that the constant pressures of changing pandemic regulations and behaviors over the past two years, and they decided the time was right to start the next chapter of their lives.
“Just all this, you know, changing — sometimes it’s hard for a little place,” she said.
Truongs bought SLO Chinese restaurant in 1992
The Truongs have both worked in restaurants most of their lives.
Eric Truong is Chinese and grew up in Vietnam before immigrating to the United States, while Elaine Truong is from Hong Kong, she said. (She’s actually related to the Gin family, the original owners of what is now the Mee Heng Low Noodle House.)
The two met while working at the now-closed Golden China in downtown San Luis Obispo, which was located where Kreuzberg California is today.
According to Elaine Truong, Eric Truong and a few partners branched out and opened the Golden Dragon restaurant in Paso Robles in the mid-1980s, but creative differences led Eric to step away from that business.
The pair then bought Mandarin Gourmet in San Luis Obispo in early 1992 — and announced that next chapter of their lives on April Fool’s Day.
“When I announced it, nobody believed me,” Truong laughed. “It was just a funny day.”
Restaurant owner says ‘best memories are of customers’
Over the next decades, the Truongs would fashion a place for themselves in the local food scene, winning awards for their take on Szechuan, Hunan and Vietnamese cuisine.
During that time, they also wove themselves into the San Luis Obispo community, becoming a beloved place for multiple generations to grab a bite to eat and feel like family.
“A lot of customers have been coming here since we opened 30 years ago,” Truong said. “Some tell me, ‘I used to come here with Grandma, but Grandma has since passed away.’”
Truong was particularly tickled by the fact that babies she knew when they were being pushed into the restaurant in strollers have since grown up to work at Mandarin Gourmet.
“It’s just so special,” she said. “I think my best memories are of my customers.”
What’s next for Mandarin Gourmet owners?
Though they decided the time was right to move on from the restaurant business for now, Truong said they might consider opening some sort of takeout-only business in the future.
“We’re still in town — we’re not going anywhere,” she said. “So maybe in the future we will do something.”
But first, a much-needed break to finally relax and enjoy the community and family they love so much.
“We want to, you know, take some time,” Truong said. “Spend more time with family. Do a little traveling. Just slow down a little bit.”
Truong said it is sad to say goodbye to such big part of their lives, but, to paraphrase a Chinese saying, “no party never ends.”
“We could stay 20 years strong, no problem, but sometimes you just have to end at the end,” she said. “So we will end this party, but we might start a new party later. You never know.”
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