After 32 years, this S.F. restaurant family is back with a new contemporary Vietnamese spot

San Francisco Chronicle​

14 hours ago

Life wasn't easy for Dennis Wong after the fall of Saigon. He abandoned his family's noodle business, fled Vietnam, was robbed by pirates and lived in a Malaysian refugee camp for two years before making it to San Francisco.
Then he met his future wife, Annie Wong of Hong Kong. Together, they opened a restaurant together on Clement Street: Le Soleil, which would go on to be a treasured Vietnamese staple for over 30 years. Now, the restaurant has expanded with a second San Francisco location in Stonestown Galleria.
This newest rendition of Le Soleil also has two more creative forces: the Wong's daughters, Bianca and Kandyce. They grew up working in the original restaurant, and after years of exploring their own passions, they've returned to put a modern spin on the family business.
This is the latest example in San Francisco of a second generation stepping in to preserve their family's legacy through food. Last year, New Song Hong Kong in Chinatown reopened following four years of closure, thanks to the efforts of the owners' adult children. In 2022, the son of the Bodega Bistro family — with pandan cocktails and caviar.
Bianca and her father teamed up on a new menu for Stonestown that features a mix of classic and contemporary dishes, such as the Blue Shrimp Aguachile, a Mexican-inspired raw shrimp with Thai chile sauce. Her time working at other San Francisco restaurants — the now-closed Farallon, which specialized in seafood, and Abacá, which has gained national attention for its contemporary Filipino cuisine — gave her a different perspective, she said.
'I wanted this menu to reflect who Kandyce and I are as people,' she said. 'We definitely wanted more contemporary things on it, things that felt like it reflected the fact that we grew up in San Francisco where there's just so many cultures.'
One of the most ordered items since its opening two weeks ago is the Pho Risotto, a twist on the Vietnamese soup typically made from beef stock. Instead of noodles, the carb of the dish is a creamy risotto, and in lieu of sliced beef, a flavorful beef rib is placed on top along with pickled Fresno peppers. An unexpected highlight is the chimichurri — a bright green, zesty addition whose acidity pairs well with pho's beefiness.
Bianca first got inspiration for the dish after a trip to Vietnam with Dennis in 2019. They went out for pho together one morning, and Dennis, speaking in Chinese, went through different ingredients that might be added to the dish. One such ingredient was huángyóu, which Bianca translated as butter — a strange addition to pho, she thought at the time. She decided to try it, playing around with a dish that could combine a carb, broth and butter. Eventually, the pho risotto was born.
Earlier this year, when finalizing the dish, she realized she had made a mistake: Although huángyóu indeed can mean butter, it also can mean bone marrow. Dennis meant the latter.
'So that dish really just came because my Chinese is not as good as we thought it was,' Bianca said.
The menu also offers a variety of classic Vietnamese dishes, such as Lap Mei, a rice bowl with pork jowl, sausage, vegetables and a runny egg. The signature quail, which is flambéd tableside with rum and served with lemon pepper sauce, is a repeat item menu from the original location.
In the next few weeks, the new Le Soleil will also offer a full bar and cocktail menu created by Spencer Vivos, the bar manager of Abacá. There's Vietnamese coffee and egg foam in the espresso martini, and makrut lime leaf and lemongrass in the margarita.
If you visit the Stonestown location, whose opening in mid-June attracted guests such as San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, you'll probably see Annie, the matriarch and restaurant designer, greeting guests.
Annie designed the first location with limited freedom to customize it, she said. The old space is smaller, darker and more traditional to Vietnamese culture. With 88 seats, she's used this bigger space to create a calm, minimalist atmosphere filled with live trees and flowers, walnut wood and cream walls.
Kandyce, who also helps out with front of house, designed the menus and uniforms. The menus feature red accents and a Chinese stamp that translates to 'sun,' and the uniforms come in multiple colors with Le Soleil's classic sun logo. Her designs are inspired by Chinese brush painting, which she did with her sisters growing up.
Le Soleil is one of several restaurants that have opened at the Stonestown Galleria in the past few years, increasing traffic to the mall. Other popular businesses include Marugame Udon, YiFang Taiwan Fruit Tea and Kura Revolving Sushi Bar.
'[Stonestown] has become kind of like a food hub here, especially for Asian food, and that was just something we wanted to be part of,' Bianca said.
With this new edition of Le Soleil, the entire family is able to build on the legacy that Dennis and Annie started over three decades ago.
'I think we all balance each other out a lot, the four of us,' Kandyce said. 'It just makes sense.'