Not long after arriving in St. Louis as a refugee with her husband and young son, Lee Tran opened Mai Lee (8396 Memorial Musick) in 1985. Tran had no professional restaurant experience, little knowledge of English, and no experience running a business. What she did have was a passion for Vietnamese culinary heritage and hospitality, which she turned into one of St. Louis’ most beloved and essential restaurants. Now, 40 years into Mai Lee’s run, Lee and her husband, Sau, reflect on how far they’ve come and what they hope to give back to the St. Louis community. Louis that they think has given them so much.
You had an incredible journey from Vietnam to St. Louis. Can you tell us the story?
Sau Tran: I was in the South Vietnamese army before the communists took over in 1975. After that, I had to stay for a few years, but we wanted to leave. It was very difficult; My brother and uncle were killed, but it was difficult to get out because you had to sneak away by boat. It cost a lot of money to do this, and we didn’t have any, but our friends and family rallied together, so me, my wife [Lee]and the boy [Qui] could leave. It was very dangerous. We had to leave at night and boarded a boat with 163 other people to a refugee camp in Malaysia, but they were overcrowded and turned us away. We had no working engine in the boat, no food, no water, and we were out at sea for four days. We didn’t think we would survive and we all started praying together because we didn’t know what else to do. On the fourth day, we saw dark clouds – it was raining and we were able to collect the rainwater in our shirts and squeeze them, so we had something to drink. Then, we saw a large ship in the distance coming towards us. It was the Indonesian Navy. They stopped for us, gave us food and water and helped fix our boat so we were able to get to the Indonesian refugee camp. We feel so lucky to have survived. Most of the people who left Vietnam by boat did not survive.Â
What was it like when you arrived in the United States?
Lee Tran: Neither of us knew English, but we were sponsored by the Unitarian Church at Waterman and Kingshighway. They helped us a lot, especially a church member, Jean Dean, who came to our house and taught us all English.Â
How did you come to open Mai Lee?
LT: I was working in a tie factory downtown, but I knew I wanted to do something more, especially because I wanted to help my family in Vietnam. I became friends here with a woman named Mai, and one day, she called me and said she wanted to open a restaurant. She knew English better than me, but I could cook – not professionally, but I was a good cook at home. We teamed up to open Mai Lee, but Mai decided to go in a different direction very quickly, so I ended up taking over the restaurant completely.Â
Mai Lee was originally a Chinese restaurant. What made you add Vietnamese cuisine to the menu?
LT: When we first opened, business was not good at all. About a year later, I thought it would be a good idea to expand the menu and add Vietnamese dishes because I wanted to show my culture and heritage.
ST: At the time, there was no one really serving Vietnamese food in St. Louis. Because of this, Joe Pollock from St. Louis Post-Dispatch came to try it and write a review. He said it was great, and we got a lot of new business after that.
LT: It was a turning point for us. After that, business became very good and we had more and more people coming to enjoy Vietnamese dishes.Â
Forty years is a long time for a restaurant to be open. What do you think is the reason for your success?
LT: Family is very important to us and we wanted to create an environment and atmosphere where people feel loved and welcome. When I cook, I put all the love into the food, as I learned to do from my mother and my family who taught me. We also really enjoy hosting people and taking care of people. It means everything to us to take care of our customers and watch their families come along over the years. Some of them have come for our entire 40 years in business. They were children, and now they have children.
ST: They know us and we know them. Sometimes, we just sit and talk to them like they are family – a lot of people who come here call me “Dad”, we are very close. We really feel we owe so much to the people of St. They have helped our family in so many ways. We have worked hard and done the best we can, but we feel that we owe our success to the people of this community.
What keeps you going after all these years? I know you haven’t slowed down.
LT: Not at all. I still work six days a week, sometimes 14 hours a day. It’s hard work, but I love what I do and hope my health stays strong so I can keep doing it for a long time. The amount of support we get from our community is what keeps me going. Seeing people come in every day and making them happy is what makes it all worth it.
How do you plan to celebrate your 40th birthday?
ST: Time flies so fast and now that I’m retired from Jamco, I can be here all the time to help him and spend time with our customers. We’re still working out what we’re going to do to celebrate, but we definitely want to do something for the people who have supported us for so many years. When we think back to the struggle to get here and then to be able to get here, even though we didn’t know what path our life would take, it makes us so grateful.
LT: We are very honored and happy that our customers still support us. We are also grateful to our employees who have helped us over the years and that our children – Linda, Qui and Sara – are all still involved in the business. There was no plan for what we did, but it worked, so we want to do something to let St. Louis how much we appreciate them.
