Hao Q and Hao Hao: Brothers and Sisters

The story behind Austin restaurants Hao Hao and Hao Q has many interesting layers to it. It began with brothers Kevin and Young Quach who emigrated to the US from Vietnam. They started at the bottom, washing dishes and bussing at various Asian restaurants, but all the while they were learning how different dishes were made.

Encouraged by their uncle, Kevin began Hao Hao at William Cannon and Manchaca.

In that time, he saw a wedding video where he was drawn to a girl named Lyn who lived in Salt Lake City. He finally contacted her, and gradually their long distance relationship blossomed into marriage as she joined him at Hao Hao.

Now here’s where it got really complicated. Lyn’s sister Hong served as the maid of honor at the wedding. And Kevin’s brother Young was attracted to Hong. Young went to LA to sit for his CPA exams, but between frequent trips to Utah to see his girlfriend, that never got done. Finally the two married and came to Austin to run the family’s Dobie Mall fast casual eaterie which catered mainly to students.

When the Dobie Mall location was sold last year, Young and Hong purchased the China Star restaurant on Far West, and named their Chinese/Vietnamese restaurant Hao Q in honor of their father whose first name was Hao.

So now you have one of the more unusual scenarios on the Austin restaurant scene: two comparable restaurants run by two brothers and their wives, who are both sisters, not sisters-in-law. Is there family jealousy? Of course, but the depth of the affection shown by older brother Kevin and older sister Lyn to their youngest siblings is obvious. Both couples have strikingly attractive kids, and they are NOT steering them toward the restaurant business.

“We all have a life path,” said Hong. “This may be ours but it doesn’t necessarily have to be theirs.”

For the moment, both of these restaurants, life paths notwithstanding, are producing wonderful food. Perhaps the family ties do enhance the product.