Duc Tran has lived in the United States only 30 years, but he’s already built an Asian empire. Chairman and CEO of the Viet-Wah Group, Tran, 55, runs three Asian food markets, each called Viet-Wah. Two are in Seattle and one in the Renton Highlands. He operates a wholesale business that ships Asian food across the country. And he has started a couple restaurants, including the newly opened Tea Palace, behind Renton’s Viet-Wah in the Greater Hilands Shopping Center on Northeast Sunset Boulevard.
The Chinese Tran has come far since fleeing to the United States from a Thailand refugee camp from his war-torn Vietnam. But Tran doesn’t brag about his accomplishments. The way he tells it, he’s simply satisfied the needs of the local Asian community.
Shortly after arriving in Seattle, Tran helped newly arrived Vietnamese refugees find food and housing. These transplants received meal coupons from the airlines. But many restaurants refused to serve the refugees, who often came to the United States shoeless. Tran started a catering business to feed these hungry newcomers.
But he needed a business identification number to bill the company’s food. So he started a restaurant — the first Vietnamese eatery in Chinatown. That was in 1981.
Then he needed food for the restaurant. So he started an import and export wholesale business in 1985. He wanted somewhere to sell all that incoming Asian food, so he opened the first Viet-Wah in 1988, on Jackson Street. The 700-square-foot store is still operating, as is the second Viet-Wah on Martin Luther King Jr. Way, which opened in 2000. The 15,000-square-foot Renton Viet-Wah opened in 2006.
Tea Palace Asian Restaurant and Banquet is another venue for Tran to sell Asian food. The restaurant is also a venue for large celebrations, which Tran says are popular in the Asian community.
“People complain about Chinatown not being big enough,” Tran says.
At 20,000 square feet and with an 800-person capacity, no one can complain about Tea Palace being too small. Tran says his restaurant, which opened in late August, is the largest in King County. Tran’s son recently held his 500-guest wedding at Tea Palace.
With dragons perched on its red-cobble roof, the former warehouse’s exterior has the look of a contemporary tea house. Painted in cream tones, the restaurant’s interior looks more westernized than the exterior.
“Normal Chinese restaurants’ lights are so bright and painted red. This doesn’t feel that Chinese,” Tran says. “We created an atmosphere that is romantic and westernized, serving Chinese food.”
That atmosphere includes four sections: A, B, C and D. A and B are dining rooms. A self-playing baby grand piano sits on the stage of section A. C is a ballroom, with a dance floor and a stage for the live bands that play every Thursday and Friday night. Thursday is a Chinese band and Friday Vietnamese. Wrapped in white cloth and dangling with cords of small white lights, the ballroom’s posts masquerade as trees.
Section D is for business meetings. The room has a projector and screen. Tea Palace also has a VIP room, two bridal rooms for wedding preparations and a small kitchen for future cooking lessons.
That kitchen is small when compared to the colossal regular kitchen. Metal tables stretch for what seems like miles. Huge silver pots bubble on burners leaping with flames. Three tanks of live lobster, oysters, crab, and fish line a wall. And everywhere are chefs in white hats and coats. The chefs chop duck and fish and form dim sum treats to place in round bamboo baskets and roll out to customers on silver carts.
Dim sum are appetizers traditionally served with tea for lunch at Chinese restaurants. Tea Palace has a long dim sum menu including dumplings, soup, steamed chicken feet, spareribs, beef stomach, turnip cake, shark fin dumpling in supreme soup steamed sponge cake and egg custard tarts.
Tran’s restaurant also has a full lunch and dinner menu, including familiar dishes like Mongolian Beef, General Tao’s chicken and sweet and sour pork, plus a variety of soups, salads, meat and vegetarian dishes. Tea Palace’s specialty is Peking duck, which arrives on a gold cart and is served on small buns, like miniature duck sandwiches. And as its name suggests, Tea Palace also serves tea. Varieties include oolong, jasmine, chrysanthemum, saumee and teekungum.
Tea Palace has yet to hold a grand opening, but the Highlands restaurant already attracts a crowd. Many customers are regulars who come for dim sum and then stop at Viet-Wah for groceries.
Tea Palace also draws new customers, like Amey Amere and Amsale Yinma, friends who recently visited Tea Palace for the first time. They live nearby, and saw the restaurant’s sign. Both said only good things about Tran’s restaurant.
“It’s very nice,” Yinma said. “Friendly people and good food.”
“You can tell by looking at our plates how we love the food,” Amere added. She and Yinma both had fish filets.
Tran is happy about the early success of Tea Palace and the continuing success of his Viet-Wah stores and wholesale business. But he’s not done building his Asian empire. He wants to finish creating an “Asian center” in the Greater Hilands Shopping Center, including a bakery which he plans to open in 2009.
Tran says that the Tea Palace and every other part of his Asian empire has always been “part of the plan.”
“America is the land of opportunity,” he says, “as long as you’re willing to work hard to (become) what you want to be.”
The Tea Palace
Tea Palace Asian Restaurant and Banquet is at 2828 Sunset Lane N.E. For more information, visit www.teapalacerestaurant.com or call 425-228-9393.
