Taste
Lucky to Have Four Sisters THE LAI FAMILY’S VIETNAMESE FOOD IS A NORTHERN VIRGINIA TRADITION By Renee Sklarew
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t’s tough time to be a restauranteur, but well-established favorites like Four Sisters are successfully weathering this pandemic. Of course, it’s not been easy. But thanks to support from devoted diners, and a system that protects both staff and clientele, Four Sisters has maintained their longstanding tradition of serving high-quality Vietnamese food while providing the same heartfelt service they’re famous for. The story of Four Sisters Restaurant begins back in 1982, when Thanh and Kim Lai, along with their six children, immigrated to the United States from Bien Hoa, Vietnam. When the family first arrived, Thanh and Kim worked shifts for a hot dog vendor in D.C. until they saved up enough to buy a food truck of their own. They sold Viet-
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namese street food with recipes created by Thanh, and the food was a hit. In 1993, the Lai’s were able to purchase a tiny, 30-seat restaurant called Houng Que (meaning a “taste of home”) at the Eden Center in Falls Church’s Little Vietnam. Thanh cooked, Kim ran the business, and the kids took turns serving customers. “All the dishes were created by my mom Thanh Lai. She is self-taught,” explains Le Lai, one of the family’s four daughters. “My family has always had a passion for food, but we didn’t go out much, because Mom’s cooking was better than any restaurant we went to.” Even though there were more than 100 other Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese businesses in Eden Center, Houng Que developed an expansive following, allowing VIVARESTON.COM
