She served dozens of Hollywood A-listers at her iconic restaurant Madame Wu's Backyard for many years.
Madame Sylvia Wu, whose iconic restaurant Madame Wu’s Backyard served Hollywood A-listers for many years, has died. She was 106.
In accordance with the Los Angeles Occasions, the famed restauranteur died on Sept. 29.
When Wu, her husband and their three children moved from New York to Los Angeles, she was shocked to seek out inauthentic Cantonese dishes within the metropolis, and she or he needed to vary that. So, she opened up her first restaurant in Santa Monica in 1959, as soon as her kids went off to boarding faculty, and she or he had some free time on her arms.
Madame Wu’s Backyard started in a small location after which upgraded to a a lot larger website as soon as it picked up steam. In accordance with the Occasions, Wu drummed up enterprise for her new restaurant by writing a letter to members of her church and asking considered one of her pals, who was a studio government, to unfold the phrase. It paid off.
Wu’s restaurant rapidly turned well-known for its celeb clientele, which included stars like Cary Grant, Mae West, Frank Sinatra, Mia Farrow, Elizabeth Taylor, Johnny Carson, Carol Burnett, Walter Matthau, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg, amongst others.
She closed the restaurant in 1998 as hipper and extra informal Chinese language spots opened and tastes within the metropolis shifted. On the time, she additionally spoke of desirous to spend extra time along with her grandchildren, nevertheless it didn’t take lengthy for her to return out of retirement.
The restauranter opened a brand new spot, Madame Wu’s Asian Bistro & Sushi, within the then-new Grove shortly after, nevertheless it didn’t final practically so long as the primary, although individuals nonetheless had affection for her.
Wu is survived by her two sons George and Patrick and quite a few grandchildren. Her husband died in 2011.