As I drove, Lu explained how the Chinese characters for the wonton dumpling are rooted in the characters for primordial chaos. “Dumplings are primordial chaos in your mouth,” said Lu, sporting a vintage Moschino blazer adorned with playful Italian grocery ad images. “You don’t know what’s inside until you take a bite.” We would be taking many bites on this day. We were headed to lunch at Chef Chu’s, the legendary Los Altos restaurant of 53 years. Our plan: to visit and dine with veteran chef-owner Lawrence C.C. Chu, a friend of Lu’s, before heading to Mountain View, where Lu’s emoji are being featured in an exhibit at the Computer History Museum titled, “Little Emoji, Big Story.”
Chef Chu at Chef Chuʻs in Los Altos Calif., June 26, 2023
Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE
Emoji exhibit at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View Calif., June 26, 2023
Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE
Lu and Chu met about a year ago through a mutual friend and culinary icon, Martin Yan. In that short time, they’ve developed a bond similar to an uncle and niece, Lu says. So it makes perfect sense that she’d choose his iconic Cantonese American restaurant for our pit stop today. “We’re both change-makers representing the symbiotic relationship between Silicon Valley, food and creativity,” said Lu, who is co-founder of Emojination, an emoji-democratizing group.
Change-maker is a good way to describe Chu. The 79-year-old started his mini-empire out of a former coin-op laundromat in 1970 and has turned it into a multilevel restaurant frequented by the likes of Serena Williams, Justin Bieber, and countless Silicon Valley movers and shakers. Over the years, Chef Chu’s has become almost as essential to the valley as computers themselves.
Jon M. Chu attends the premiere of Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Crazy Rich Asians” at TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX on Aug. 7, 2018, in Hollywood, California.
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
When we arrived at the restaurant, we spied photos of Chu with other famous figures, like former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and John F. Kennedy Jr. Actors Constance Wu and Henry Golding have dined there, too. Chu’s youngest son, Jon M. Chu, is the director of their 2018 film, “Crazy Rich Asians.” Dad’s pride is evident as soon as you approach the restaurant and glimpse the giant movie poster.
As for the menu at Chef Chu’s, it is massive and includes everything from a shredded chicken salad to boneless tea-smoked duck and whole rock cod slathered in hot chili bean sauce. Pot stickers are listed as a signature dish, which is one reason Lu chose to dine at Chef Chu’s — a signature dish matching her signature emoji. They are normally served with hot oil and garlic soy sauce — extras that make the dining experience special. The wontons, another highlight, also get a helping of house-made spicy Sichuan peanut sauce.
Sitting in a booth by the bar, Chu appeared dressed in crisp chef whites. He greeted us with gusto, bringing hot coffee and bookmarked copies of his cookbooks, sketching out the morning’s agenda like the pro he is. First, a rundown of his restaurant’s history, including his pedigree — or lack thereof — followed by a dumpling-folding lesson for Lu.
Chef Chu and Yiying Lu at Chef Chu’s in Los Altos, Calif., June 26, 2023.
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“When I met my wife, I told her, ‘I have a Ph.D.’ I was poor, hungry and determined,” he clarified, explaining his clever use of the acronym. He credits that determination and hard work as the keys to his success. In a characteristic move, Chu delayed a flight to London to see his son, Jon, in order to participate in this story. (Jon is in London directing a movie version of the Broadway hit “Wicked”).
That all-consuming service industry lifestyle can eat some people alive. Not Chu. He draws energy from it like a sunflower. And despite constantly crowded dining rooms and endless celebrity endorsements, he’s never lost sight of what matters to him. “I’m not Michelin-starred, and I don’t want to be,” he said. “I make comfort food at comfort prices.”
The statement is true but also modest. On the menu, the signature Candied Pecans with Jumbo Prawns is listed at $22.95 and a whole steamed Chilean sea bass is $37.95 — cheap by today’s Bay Area standards. Yet, the old-school white tablecloths — not covered in plastic — and large banquet spaces add class to an affordable dining experience. Chu remains determined to be inexpensive, not forgetting his humble origins.
Chef Chu making dumplings at Chef Chuʻs in Los Altos Calif., June 26, 2023
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Chef Chu dumpling making station at Chef Chuʻs in Los Altos Calif., June 26, 2023
Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE
Chef Chu teaching Yiying Lu how to fold Gold Nugget dumplings at Chef Chuʻs in Los Altos Calif., June 26, 2023
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Chef Lawrence Chu teaching Yiying Lu how to fold gold nugget dumplings. (Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE)
Before we know it, Chu has set up one of the round banquet tables to make wontons and pot stickers. Watching him felt like peering behind the scenes of a “Food Network” cooking show. Ingredients — including fresh crab for puffs — had been prepped in advance, and staff flowed in and out seamlessly, adding or taking items away. While Lu doesn’t get down to Los Altos often, she says she and Chu text regularly.
I observe how they speak to each other with quick rapport, mostly in English today but slipping into Mandarin during moments when details are best explained in one’s native tongue. Watching him teach her various folds and explaining their meaning — like the shape of a Ming Dynasty gold ingot that is meant to bring prosperity — confirmed their closeness. Chu moved so deftly through all the folds, I could barely keep up trying to take photos with my phone.
After the folding lesson, we sat down at a table covered in a red tablecloth topped with gold-colored cutlery. Chu insisted on a feast of signature dishes beyond dumplings. A platter of Snow White Chicken felt silky on the tongue with its paper-thin slices, bites punctuated by summer-fresh snow peas. Luxurious lobster — sweet, juicy and mostly pre-shelled — sat atop a bed of bouncy yee mein in a viscous rice wine sauce with sharp scallions and warming ginger slices. The vegetarian Kung Pao Tofu arrived in lightly stir-fried pieces, mixed with sweet red and grassy green bell peppers, rounds of water chestnuts, and spicy Sichuan peppercorns. Even the plain white rice was fresh, fluffy and steaming hot.
Vegetarian pot stickers, char siu bao, duck bao, braised bamboo shoots, pickled cucumber spirals and pork pot stickers at Chef Chuʻs in Los Altos, Calif., June 26, 2023.
Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE
The biggest surprise was an appetizer on the Four Seasons Cold Plate, which included spiralized cucumbers, vegetarian mock goose, Shanghai bamboo shoots and what initially appeared to be pickled sour plums. The ruby-red orbs were surprisingly soft, juicy and sweeter than expected. “It’s Trader Joe’s sugar plum tomatoes!” Chef Chu told us. His recipe entails first removing the skins in boiling water and then mixing the tomatoes with vinegar, sweet plum powder and red wine — “the cheapest red wine you can find” — to yield this small-but-mighty dish. Chu was forthcoming about the inexpensive ingredients in some of his dishes to demonstrate both humility in his roots and the culinary mastery required to turn something simple into a hit.
Braised bamboo shoots, vegetarian “goose,” pickled cucumber spirals and sugar plum grapes at Chef Chu’s in Los Altos, Calif., June 26, 2023.
Lance Yamamoto/SFGATE
While Chu is still hands-on in the kitchen, his chefs, all from China, are well trained. Chu is especially proud of his pot stickers’ perfectly crispy bottom, whether he cooks them or his chefs do — a dark golden-brown base, thick and fried enough to yield a proper, satisfying gnaw. The ground pork filling was generous but proportional to the dough — a reminder of restraint. They had a zing of ginger and a delightfully soft crunch from finely chopped water chestnuts. Chu’s are quintessential restaurant pot stickers — an original model, not a carbon copy.