FSR February 2023

S P O N S O R E D B Y A M E R I C A N E X P R E S S

small, dine-in is limited,” Lew says. “We can’t accommodate company dinners or large gatherings. It’s mainly to-go orders, and we offer walk-in, call-in, and online order ing. We have a very small staff, so we rely on delivery apps.” Like her restaurateur relatives, Lew’s menu development strategy is a group effort. As a millennial with many foodie friends, Lew and her cohort enjoy eating out and are always on the lookout for the latest food trends. She also gets ideas from her friends’ multicul tural backgrounds. “Every culture has its perks in terms of food, and America is a big melting pot,” Lew says. “Having a fusion restaurant means that I can be creative and provide the best of both worlds.” It also means that she can offer up something unique in the local food scene. Soledad is a predom inantly Hispanic community with farms, wineries, and lots of sea sonal workers. Naturally, many

Some people take decades to find their place in the restaurant industry, but Mandee Lew was born into it.

tomers, Lew’s father decided to open a fusion concept where cus tomers could order both Japanese and Chinese dishes under one roof. When her parents decided to pursue another opportunity, Lew took over the restaurant in Novem ber 2021. Soledad—a small town of about 25,000 people—is an ideal location for a first-time res taurateur to get her feet wet, par ticularly in today’s off-premises dining heavy atmosphere. “Because my restaurant is very

Lew operates Mix Stix Asian Fusion, a small, mostly takeout res taurant in Soledad, a small town off U.S. Highway 101 in California’s Salinas Valley, two hours south of San Francisco. Lew officially opened Mix Stix in November 2021, but she practically grew up in kitchens alongside her father, god father, and uncle—who all owned restaurants—as well as many other family members. “When my dad immigrated from China in the late 1980s, he worked in grocery stores as a meat worker,” Lew says. “Eventually he became business partners with my godfa ther, and they opened a Chinese buffet. It was an epic failure, but they never stopped trying.” Eventually the duo found their stride and opened several suc cessful restaurants in and around Modesto. In the meantime, her uncle opened a Japanese restau rant where Lew worked as a server, keenly observing the resident chefs master the art of rolling sushi. “I ate sushi for six months straight when I worked there,” Lew said. “My uncle and the other sushi chefs made their own special rolls that they created based on things they learned from their travels to Japan and customer requests. Our menu development process was to ask for input and then just keep adding and tweaking until we thought it tasted good.” After many requests from cus

MIX STIX ASIAN FUSION