Chef Channy Laux’s quest to honor her mother’s legacy has reached its brick-and-mortar destination.
The Cambodian-born chef and her husband, Kent, have ended a long soft-opening phase at their Angkor Chef restaurant in downtown San Jose, hosted an official grand opening and are now welcoming customers for lunch, dinner and private events.
A survivor and refugee, the Fremont-based Laux worked as an aerospace and biotech engineer for decades before pivoting to the culinary arts in 2010 after her mother died.
“I was reflecting on her life and wanted to find a way to honor her,” she told the Bay Area News Group in a 2019 interview. “She was an orphan. She never had a day of school in her life but she was a strong woman, a single mom who raised four kids to become engineers and business owners. After arriving in the U.S., her first job was in a kitchen. She went on to cook Cambodian food in many weddings.”
Laux also cooked fragrant, authentic cuisine for family, friends and co-workers before launching her condiment business and selling products at trade shows and pop-ups.
In 2021, she tested the restaurant market by joining a San Jose cloud kitchen and preparing meals for takeout.
Since the South First Street restaurant opened this summer, the top-selling dishes, especially among those fairly new to Cambodian cuisine, have been the Lemongrass Chicken, Angkor Noodles with shrimp and the Amok, curried fish steamed in banana leaves.
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“Diners more familiar with Khmer cuisine most often select dishes from the Prahok section of our menu,” including the Somlaw Machu Kroeung and Tuk Prahok, said Kent Laux.
The food features her condiments, which are also available for sale: Her award-winning Lemongrass Paste (regular or vegan, used in stir-fries); Chrouk Metae (a traditional hot sauce); Tamarind Sauce (a natural tenderizer; think braised short ribs); Makrut Lime Powder (sourced from refugee farmers near Fresno); Kroeung Prawlak (a Cambodian barbecue marinade); Organic Thnot Sugar (with caramel undertones); Kampot Peppercorns and more.
For dessert, there’s Mango Rice, Jackfruit Rice and Khmer Mochi, filled with mung bean and topped with coconut sauce and Thnot Sugar.
Details: Open from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and from noon to 10 p.m. Saturday at 86 S. First St., San Jose. https://angkorchef.com/
