You Can Get Anything You Want, at Alice's Restaurant

This past Monday's Daily Review includes a nice human interest story on Alice Nguyen's new restaurant, Le Paradis, at the corner of D Street & Mission. Here's the link, but it'll expire in 14 days: http://www.insidebayarea.com/search/ci_3364556

Alice and her family left Vietnam about 35 years ago and emigrated to France. She moved to Hayward in the 1980s and opened her Main Street bakery in 1986.

Here's some snippets from the article:

After making many friends downtown and cultivating a growing number of loyal customers, said she was also growing restless with her Main Street bakery, which was narrowly wedged in a building between A and B streets.
She had been eyeing the old thrift stop for years. She eventually bought it, gutted the building and obtained loans from City Hall and has spent more than $200,000 to renovate the structure and build a kitchen and restroom.

She has also been working to ward off some customers from the neighboring Palace card club that occupy her parking lot.

"My mom is so nice. She won't speak up and say something, so mostly I'm doing the yelling," Nathalie Nguyen said.

The only thing the family didn't get to do was place an Eiffel Tower replica that would tower over the building — the city wouldn't allow it.

Alice Nguyen said her favorite addition is the elaborate courtyard she has built along D Street across from the public library. In the summer, it will be used for bistro-style seating.

She hired a Vietnamese chef, Tony Tran, who cooks most of the lunch and dinner dishes. For about a month, after she opened the restaurant quietly, people have been coming in, she said.

"We can keep customers and build customers at the same time," she said. "They know we have a restaurant, now. They come back for lunchtime. And if they need a cake, they come back, too."