Photography by Paul Shoul

Zen's main dining room in Northampton

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Family businesses, traditional mainstays of the American economy, at their best have many advantages. The most appealing is the distribution of the stress and pressure of running a business to more than one competent and committed person. Such is the case at Zen, the Asian fusion restaurant located on Main Street in Northampton.

Zen opened a little over three years ago, after fourteen and a half months of painstaking renovation. Siblings Yeiyeo, Michelle and Bryan Sun, all products of the Northampton school system and business majors at UMass-Amherst, own and operate Zen.

Instead of one owner being present night and day to run the restaurant, the Suns are able to work in shifts of sorts, each sibling taking the time of day most suited to his or her lifestyle. And each has taken on specific tasks; Yeiyeo is the operations manager, Michelle has taken on the administrative side of things and Bryan is the food and wine expert.

The siblings share a love of food, and one benefit of sharing the burden of ownership is the ability to take time off to enjoy food around the world. The Suns tout the importance of travel in their industry. Yeiyeo explains, "You have to really open your eyes to see what's out there," and "try to learn about [a] culture" in order to understand its food.

The restaurant provides typical American iterations of Japanese and Chinese cuisine, like Philly Rolls and General Tso's chicken. But there are more innovative and unusual dishes, especially on the lists of daily specials. One responsibility the Suns do share is the creative endeavor of making the specials, which vary daily depending on what ingredients were fresh that morning. The job is handed off to each on a regular basis.

Michelle and her father drive to Connecticut early each morning to pick out produce for the day. Much of their seasonal produce comes from Chang Farms in Deerfield, which grow bean sprouts and vegetables. Most of the ordering is done in small batches, which underscores the importance of freshness and also explains the changes in ingredients in certain of their dishes; "mixed vegetables" could contain carrots and peppers one week and bok choy and broccoli the next.

Yeiyeo says that they are particularly proud that the menu is "health-conscious," utilizing light oils and as many fresh, organic ingredients as possible. Each dish at Zen is prepared to order, including pasta and dumplings. For their dumpling soup, the dumplings are prepared from scratch each day and are not added to the soup until it is time to serve them, which maintains their firmness and shape and ensures that they do not dissolve in the broth.

The Suns' parents maintain a presence at Zen, watching their children carry on their legacy of culinary skill. Michelle explains that the family lived in Seoul, South Korea (though the Suns are actually of Chinese descent) until they emigrated in the early 'eighties to Manhattan, where they opened a restaurant. They moved to Northampton when the children were still young, "probably for the school system," Michelle speculates. The elder Suns can frequently be seen at the restaurant. I was presented with a dish of green tea noodles and cold peanut sauce prepared by the father of the family, and their mother can often be seen behind the counter or walking slowly outside the restaurant, surveying the scene inside.

It's easy to understand why she does this. From the street, Zen has sleek curb appeal. Its windows fold back accordion-style to provide an indoor-outdoor experience when weather permits. The exposed brick walls are perhaps the only rustic design element in the space. The light fixtures are sleek and contemporary, the tables are dark polished wood, the glassware is slender and delicate and the carpets are multi-colored and fun. Yeiyeo explains that they set out to create something that Northampton hadn't seen before.

While the concept of Zen isn't exactly groundbreaking, there are elements that set it apart from the other Chinese and Japanese restaurants in town. The standard staples of Asian-American cuisine are done well; the hot and sour soup is better than most, for example. Thin strips of pork and mushrooms are nearly suspended in Zen's peppery soup, which has a lovely, semi-gelatinous texture. An interesting starter called "Curry Fries" are not actually fries (as in "French"), but pillows of potato, sweet peas, onion and curry wrapped in thin pastry and deep-fried. The savory pouches are served with a syrupy passion fruit sauce, Zen's spin on the apricot duck sauce you'll find in many Chinese-American establishments. A plate of sashimi is brightly colored, cool and fresh, and the gem-toned tuna is light and savory (though the pieces were cut so large it was difficult to eat each one as a single bite, as is traditionally done).

There are a few items on Zen's menu that may raise some eyebrows, some that carry the innovative impulses that accompany fusion across continents. The "Li'l Italy" roll is particularly interesting. Unlike much maki, which is a type of sushi made by rolling raw fish in sheets of nori and rice, this roll is cooked. In fact, it's baked in garlic butter and contains fried shrimp and white tuna. But despite some unusual choices, Yeiyeo says that "eighty percent of the items on the menu sell well," as the clientele have consistently ordered the items unique to Zen. The union of expected Asian-American dishes and others that epitomize the experimental character of fusion on the menu seems to please rather than confuse the customers. "We take our customers' feedback seriously and we use their comments," explains Yeiyeo. Most of the people who patronize Zen are regulars, Yeiyeo and her sister point out.

The Suns are enthusiastic about having their restaurant in Northampton where they grew up, and have had the opportunity to appreciate some of the benefits of owning a business in such a small city. But because they employ and serve so many college students, Yeiyeo points out that very often they become friendly with customers and face the bittersweet experience of seeing them off each summer. Such a sentiment is refreshing to hear from a businessperson in a time of economic uncertainty. It's as if spreading the responsibility across the members of their family has allowed the Suns to stay earnest and prevented them from becoming jaded with the business. Perhaps the new wave of "family businesses" will be established similarly; groups of siblings or even close friends pursue education and experiences and come together to apply those experiences to a business model.