For almost 40 years, this family-owned Thai restaurant fed Coral Gables. Now it’s closed
Restaurant owners Cathy Nguyen and her brother Swadee have a long and fond shared history with Miracle Mile in Coral Gables.
When they were kids, their mother Chi Chu took them and their four siblings to wander department stores like J. Byrons and Woolworth's, where Swadee liked to buy tropical fish. They also went to movies at the Miracle Theater.
In 1986, Chu opened the Thai restaurant Lotus Garden at the nearby Publix shopping center. In 1997, the family moved the restaurant to 318 Miracle Mile on the western end of the street. Both spots boasted a fish tank, a tribute to young Swadee's passion.
Now, the Nguyens have closed the unassuming neighborhood spot, echoing the all-too-common laments about the higher costs that have doomed neighborhood restaurants around Miami.
"The numbers just weren't there," Cathy Nguyen, 57, said. "My brother and I kept it going, but it's not that simple anymore."
Nguyen is reluctant to blame any one element for the closing, saying that she and her brother, who have been running the business, were struggling financially. They didn't want to pass costs on to their guests — "I can't remember the last time we raised our prices," she said — which meant absorbing the higher prices of food and insurance. Problems like parking were an issue, too: longtime customers had to park too far from the restaurant, resulting in a drop in business.
The changing face of the Coral Gables restaurant scene, which has exploded over the past few years, played a part, too, Nguyen believes.
"It seems to me the whole idea of Miracle Mile is small shops, small mom-and-pops," she said. "But it's been going corporate lately. Sometimes good food is not enough anymore. People like shiny and new. And even corporate restaurants struggle."
The restaurant's final day of service was Sunday, Sept. 29, when long-time patrons showed up for one last order of curry or Pad Thai and to pay tribute to a spot that fed generations of Coral Gables families.
"So many people we met at the restaurant came out to support us," Nguyen said. "It was so humbling. I just want my mother to get all the credit."
Her mother first opened the restaurant as a way to feed and employ her kids, Nguyen said.
"We were all in high school or going to University of Miami, so this was a way we would have a job and a meal," she said. "She hardly spoke any English, but she told us, 'Go to the bank and get a cashier's check. We're opening a restaurant tomorrow.' "
All six of the Nguyen children, who all attended Miami Senior High School, worked at the restaurant at one time or another, running food or working in the kitchen (Nguyen discovered she liked cooking best). Their mother decided to stop cooking when she was 80 but still insisted on coming to the restaurant every day. Nguyen set up a lounge chair in the kitchen and worked under her mother' supervision.
"She wanted to be in the middle of every little thing," she said, laughing at the memory. "She'd say, 'Why do you to it way?' "
Her mother passed away three years ago, making the decision to close even more difficult. Saying goodbye to a place she has worked since she was 19 has been "heartbreaking," Nguyen said, but hopes that she and her brother will find a new space to reopen once they have moved out of the Miracle Mile spot.
"This is the first time I've been unemployed since I was 13," she said. "My brother is like, 'What are we going to do with ourselves?' But we'll figure it out. My mom cooked until she was 80, so I've got a good 20 years to go."
