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It's Yummy For Your Tummy

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By HAROLD VALENTINE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

FOREST HILLS - John Zhao would like Tampa residents to forget what they thought they knew about Chinese food and taste "the real deal."

Zhao, 30, opened Yummy House in November 2006 at 2202 W. Waters Ave., a location where he admits stores and plazas seem to blend into each other. However, Zhao said that didn't stop his business from turning a profit in its first month.

He said Yummy House's success grew from there, especially during the past six months.

"I put myself in a customer's position," he said. "It's not a great location. You open a menu, and the prices are very reasonable. We give some really high-quality Chinese food at a very low price range. So it's above what they expect, and that makes a big impression."

Zhao and much of his staff, including cook Tommy Tang, hail from China via San Francisco, where they enjoyed plenty of authentic Chinese, or Cantonese cuisine. Tang said, translated from Chinese by Zhao, that he couldn't believe the lack of quality of most Chinese food in Tampa when he first arrived here.

"We went to two Chinese restaurants when we came here, and it was bad," Tang said. "We don't know how you guys eat it."

Jeanne Ruski is a regular customer who drives from St. Petersburg for Yummy House's food. Ruski, whose father worked for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, was raised in Okinawa. Ruski said since she left for college she has been looking for authentic Chinese cuisine and found it at Yummy House.

"This is the best," she said. "I would drive to Lakeland if this place was in Lakeland."

Some of Ruski's favorite appetizers coincide with the restaurant's most ordered dishes. Head waiter Tony Tran said the salt-and-pepper tofu and the salt-and-pepper calamari are popular, costing $5.99 and $6.99.

He said each customer has favorites, including seafood tofu soup, honey pepper shrimp and scallops and chicken with garlic wine. Those items range in price from $6.95 to $12.

"I say about 80 to 90 percent is repeat business," Tran said. "I deal with customers, and I know them pretty well."

Zhao said his cooks, himself included, each have at least 10 to 15 years of experience in making Cantonese cuisine. He said most of his supply comes from New York City's Chinatown, and all vegetables are individually selected by cooks at local markets.

"We don't use MSG, we use chicken powders," Zhao said. "Chicken powder is 10 times more expensive in our industry, but that's how we cook it. We make much less profit, but we want this food to be authentic."

Zhao said that when he opened most of his clients were Asians who were familiar with authentic Chinese food, but he added that demographic has changed. Now, he says, half of his customers have been learned through word of mouth.

Zhao, who also lived in Belize, said Tampa has been his favorite place to live.

"It's not a huge city," he said, "but you have a lot here, and it's a quiet pace."

Zhao said the fact that most Tampa residents are not familiar with his brand of cuisine has worked to his advantage. He expects to open other locations and mentioned South Tampa or places out of town such as Fort Lauderdale.

YUMMY HOUSE

ADDRESS: 2202 W. Waters Ave.

HOURS: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday through Monday; dinner, 5 to 10 or 10:30 p.m. Wednesday through Monday; closed Tuesday

CALL: (813) 915-2828

Reporter Harold Valentine can be reached at (813) 865-1526 or hvalentine@tampatrib.com.

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