How Chef Chu’s Became Silicon Valley’s Favorite Chinese Restaurant | Eater
"Opened in 1970 by an immigrant who started in restaurants as a busboy, this long-running Los Altos Chinese-American restaurant grew from a tiny takeout spot in a former laundromat into a multiroom, family-run institution known as a Silicon Valley power restaurant. It built its reputation by adapting popular Chinese dishes to American tastes—sweet-and-sour pork, chow mein, fried rice, and almond chicken remain top sellers—while also offering signature items like Hunan chicken, basil beef, candied pecans with jumbo prawns, and a much-photographed chicken salad. The founder, a gregarious host who insists on strict standards in the kitchen and personal engagement with diners, cultivated an atmosphere where business leaders and celebrities routinely dined; framed photos of notable visitors line the entry, and the second-floor “Nine Dragons” dining room features a wall of gold dragons salvaged from the founder’s father’s restaurant. Though sometimes labeled Chinese-American rather than “authentic” Chinese, the restaurant is credited with expanding local palates and helping pave the way for later regional Chinese and hot-pot concepts; it remains family-operated, with multiple children involved and the founder still overseeing quality daily." - Melissa Hung
