October 09, 2002
Page AIO
Fast Food Asian Style on Broadway
by L ee P erlman
T he P ortland O bserver
Upwardly mobile Bac Nguyen has moved her
Wok n' Roll restaurant down the street to meet
a higher standard.
What had been a popular Oriental fast food
operation in the old Holladay Market building
moved last month into the old Cadillac Café
quarters at 918 N.E. Broadway. The restaurant
offers authentic Vietnamese dishes, plus some
Chinese and Thai specialties, from 11 a.m. to
2:30 p.m., and 5 to 9 p.m. daily. The restaurant
will also offer beer and wine for the first time.
“We certainly hope it will be a success,” says
Edison Sweet, Wok n' Roll founder and Nguyen’s
partner in the operation. He will handle the
business aspects of the operation while Nguyen
handles the food.
Bom and raised in a coastal city in Vietnam,
Nguyen emigrated to Indonesia in 1981. “I was
seeking a better life," she told The Portland
Observer. “Life in Vietnam was a little hard. I
didn’t have much freedom.”
During her four months in a refugee camp in
Indonesia, “I had a lot of fun,” she said. Nguyen
also had her first business venture there, selling
fruit and vegetables in a small market.
Moving to Portland, she studied English and
worked as an assistant chef before opening her
first restaurant, Thai Binh, located at Northeast
79lh and Glisan St., in 1989. She sold it two years
later, and dropped out of the labor market for two
years when she had her first child.
Nguyen went back to work in 1992 when Bee
opened Wok n' Roll, and later bought the restau
rant from him in 1996.
“My biggest problem was being a woman and
taking care of the restaurant,” she says. “I had
to be the chef, the cashier, make deliveries and
take care of my (three) children all by myself. As
a woman, 1 have this responsibility; my husband
w asn’t around.” The couple had divorced in
1995. Nguyen also had difficulty in communicat
ing in English with her customers, and often
relied on her children to translate for her.
“She’s just wonderful,” Bee says of Nguyen.
“I’ve helped her ever since she came over. It’s
been a great experience.”
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Edison Bee (left), of Wok n' Roll Asian Bistro, with employee Quange Le, outside Bee's recently opened restaurant at 914 N.E.
Broadway, featuring a delicious menu of Vietnamese, Thai and Chinese cuisine.
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