For over three decades the Chan family has delivered a taste of
authentic Asian cuisine to our local community, but their best story
involves starting over, hard work, dedication and family.
When word came that the fall of Saigon was imminent,
was urgent: They had only one to two hours to pack a suitcase and leave.
Anh's family was from China, but her father worked in the import and
export business in Vietnam, where she had lived all her life. “We lived not
far from Saigon in Cholon," she said. "That was where most Chinese people
lived.”
Her father did not want to leave at first. Anh had to explain the
urgency. She told him that Wick had sent CIA agents to fly four members
of his family out of Vietnam. “Wick choose my mother, father, and me and
my sister. But my mom went to her brother to tell him she had to leave, and
she brought his son back. So, he came with us, too.” Anh and her family left
Tasty,
Healthy
Asian
Cuisine
BY TERI R. WILLIAMS | PHOTOS BY DAPHNE WALKER
Army intelligence and interrogation officer Sedgewick
“Wick” Tourison sent undercover CIA agents to the
Saigon airport hotel where his wife’s sister, twentyfour
year-old Anh Diep, worked. The message he sent
Vietnam on April 24, 1975. After stops in the
Philippines and Guam, the family finally arrived
in the United States on May 1, 1975. On April
30, 1975, only six days after the Diep family
left Vietnam, Saigon fell to the People's Army of
Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong.
With only a suitcase of clothes, the Diep
family spent the first few months in America
with Anh’s sister Ping and her husband in
Thurmont, Maryland. In addition to Mandarin,
Cantonese, and Vietnamese, Anh also spoke
some English. Her English teacher had required
all the students in her class to take an English
name for class. Anh chose “Sandy.” Since
America was now her home, she decided to
go by the English name she had chosen in her
class.
After a few months, Sandy moved to
Dover, Delaware, to help a cousin who had just
opened a Chinese restaurant. She had never
planned on working in a restaurant as a career,
but then again, Sandy had not planned on being
uprooted and restarting her life in another
country either. Not only was she in a new
country, Sandy’s parents did not speak English
and would now be dependent on her and her
sisters. But rather than focusing on what she
may have lost, or perhaps what career she might
have chosen, Sandy considered waitressing and
helping her cousin as an opportunity.
Six months after she started waitressing
for her cousin, a new chef was hired. His name
was Sze Chan. Sze was originally from Fuzhou,
China, but had moved to Hong Kong with his
HOMETOWN LIVING AT I TS BEST 33
BUILDING A BUSINESS ON