Anne Le Biography Most people start their day with thoughts of the day’s schedule. Anne Le, proprietor of Tamarine Restaurant, starts by thinking about what she is going to eat. In spite of being one of the few people she knows who thinks about food before she gets out of bed in the morning, Anne pursued a career in marketing before joining the family’s restaurant business. The daughter of award-winning restaurateurs, Anne was raised in the restaurant business. Her family founded and operates the award-winning Vung Tau group of restaurants, which serve traditional Vietnamese cuisine. Attending the family’s Monday night “tastings” was akin to watching live cooking shows, as Anne’s mother and grandmother demonstrated the intricacies of classical Vietnamese cooking. Learning about each of the ingredients and how they are used gave Anne a deeper appreciation for the exquisite dishes that followed. An experienced marketer, Anne recognized that traditional ethnic restaurants could be intimidating for those not already introduced to the cuisine. She decided to create an environment that would appeal to a broader market and deepen the public’s understanding of Vietnamese culture. Anne developed the concept for Tamarine Restaurant as a place to experience both. Tamarine is a culmination of her passions and her family’s background.

With it, she aspires to create an appreciation of Vietnamese culture and an appetite for the country’s exquisite cuisine.

Anne, who holds a degree in East Asian History from Santa Clara Univ., Santa Clara, Calif., manages business operations and the front of the house at Tamarine Restaurant. Both she and chef Tammy develop Tamarine’s distinctive dishes.

Tammy Huynh Biography Born in the coastal city of Vung Tau, Vietnam, Tammy loves traveling throughout Southeast Asia and shopping at the local markets for exciting new foods that inspire her signature dishes. With an abundance of fruits, vegetables, and spices native to the tropics, there are many discoveries yet to be made. Tammy's cooking blends the classical skills she learned from her mother with her own experimental approach. Her love of cooking and experimenting with food prompted her to leave her pharmacy practice and begin her culinary career in 1996. Tammy's mother, Chac Do, provided the classical Vietnamese culinary tradition that is adapted and applied to the family's various restaurants. Expanding upon this foundation, Tammy's creativity and experimentation with pan-Asian cuisine led to such signature dishes as Ha Long Bay Soup, a delicate coconut and lemongrass soup served with crab wontons; and Chili Lime Aubergine. Experimentation is not limited to the kitchen. Try a Tammy-tini or another of Tamarine's specialty cocktails made with Asian fruit and exotic tropical flavors.

Tammy studied biochemistry at U.C. Davis, Davis, Calif. and earned a doctorate in pharmacy from Univ. of the Pacific in Stockton, Calif. Tammy operates Tam and Vung Tau restaurants, both in Milpitas, Calif., in addition to overseeing the kitchen at Tamarine.

The Family Biography

The Vung Tau Group's matriarch, Chac Do, began the family's affair with food as a seafood exporter in Vung Tau, Vietnam. A single mother of seven, Chac Do left Vietnam with her family in 1976 and spent a year in an Indonesian refugee camp. Always important to the family, food became of vital interest as they endured the camp's perpetual shortage of rations and provisions. Sponsored by a Catholic charity, the 10-member family came to the U.S. in 1977 and settled in a two-bedroom apartment in Lodi, Calif. Every member of the family who was able went to work. All but the youngest children joined the ranks of a local canning factory.

With little to remind them of their scenic southern Vietnamese coastal city, it was the family meals that brought back a taste of their homeland. Chac Do began adapting her vast culinary repertoire with local American ingredients, and soon her daughters Nhan and Tammy were perfecting their culinary skills as well.

In 1982, with Tammy off to college, the family moved to Santa Clara, Calif. Working two jobs each, Anne's mother Nhan and father Anthony saved and borrowed enough money to open their first restaurant, Vung Tau, in San Jose, Calif. in 1985.

The Vung Tau Group's Restaurant

The Vung Tau Group's Restaurant's Vietnamese cuisine is known in culinary circles as a healthy Asian style of cooking that blends the best of Chinese, French and Thai influences into a unique style. Vung Tau restaurants capture this exotic mix. Today, the restaurants attract both western and Asian patrons who appreciate its acclaimed quality.

Known for its homemade sauces and authentic flavors, Vung Tau gained its initial popularity with a loyal following among Vietnamese people who longed for the authentic cuisine of their homeland. The original Vung Tau restaurant, a twelve-table eatery, opened in 1985 on San Carlos Street in San Jose, Calif. It was so successful that in less than two years, proprietors Nhan Huynh and Anthony Le moved the restaurant to its current location at 535 East Santa Clara Street, and went from serving 32 guests to 150.

The family opened a second Vung Tau restaurant in Milpitas, Calif. in 1996, and four years after that, opened a third Vung Tau in Newark, Calif. In 2001, Vung Tau was named the "Best Vietnamese Restaurant" by Silicon Valley Accent magazine and won a three-and-a-half star rating from the San Jose Mercury News in 1998.

If Vung Tau is the favorite for those who long for a taste of home, Tamarine, the family's first contemporary Vietnamese restaurant, aims to inspire guests to discover Vietnam firsthand.

Vung Tau, Vietnam

Imagine tropical beaches, beautiful mountains, deep blue waters and warm, friendly faces. This coastal paradise is located at the mouth of the Saigon River, and is a popular beach resort that was first known to westerners by its French name, Cap Saint Jacques. Vung Tau is 125 kilometers south of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon). Endowed with 15 km of coastline, Vung Tau's famous mountains Nui Lon (Truong Ky) and Nui Nho (Tao Phung) meld into the South China Sea near the city's southern tip, forming a natural harbor that earned it the name "Bay of Ships" in Vietnamese.

Vung Tau is famous for its abundant seafood-clam, crab, scallop, and shrimp-as well as its fresh fruits and vegetables. Visitors from around the world are discovering Vung Tau's scenic beauty as well as its gastronomic pleasures.