Building a Healthy Business, as Their Parents Did
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

Gobo restaurant in Greenwich Village serves up appetizers such as Vietnamese spring rolls and pan-seared spinach dumplings, and entrees like butternut squash risotto with toasted almonds and curry noodle soup.
If it weren’t for words like “seitan” and “soy cutlets” in the menu descriptions, one might not realize that Gobo is a temple to vegetarianism. The food does not shout its owners’ devotion to produce and grains. The smoked Beijing-style seitan, for instance, could easily pass for lean duck.
That’s what owners David and Darryn Wu are aiming for.
“Eighty percent of the people who come here are what you call ‘flex-tarians’ – part vegetarians, part meat eaters,” said Darryn, 27. “They are here because their girlfriend is vegetarian. Or they want to purge. We created a menu where if you are a vegetarian, you’ll feel this is the best thing that’s happened. If you are not a vegetarian, you’re not scared away because there are so many menu items that are so tasty that you forget it’s a vegetarian restaurant.”
It’s natural that the Wus opened a restaurant. Darryn and David are the middle and youngest sons of Yuki Chen, the owner of Zen Palate, one of the first restaurants in the city to elevate vegetarianism to a fine dining experience. The two practically grew up in the kitchen, and have memories of working at Zen Palate – some better than others.
As Darryn recalled, “I have worked many different jobs for my parents, but the one that sticks out in my mind is being a delivery boy. I remember this well now, because it was around this time of the year and it was FREEZING. Even though I was cold and miserable I was still gracious, cordial, and exceeded the expectations of my guests. I guess the average delivery boy doesn’t have great service. They were so happy, which made me happy. I hadn’t known it at the time, but this was hospitality, the cornerstone of Gobo,” he said.
“I learned from experiences like this, service is the most important aspect in the restaurant. Constant training, retraining, and building a philosophy of hospitality and inspiring your staff is very important. At Gobo we strive to take care of each guest and make them feel special.”
It’s not surprising that when they were ready to start their own business, they opted to open a vegetarian eatery rather than one that served meat. With both parents devout Buddhists, they grew up vegetarian.
“I had McDonald’s, Burger King, and all that,” recalled David, 33, who currently lives in Hoboken, N.J. “But I grew up 70% vegetarian. I became a full vegetarian three years ago. … For us to open a seafood restaurant or a steakhouse would not make sense.”
Darryn, who lives in Whitestone, Queens, and became a full-fledged vegetarian two years ago, remembers friends would come over to their house, clamoring to eat the dishes their mother and father prepared.
In creating a soothing, nondogmatic vegetarian restaurant, the Wus hope to quietly convert meat-eaters one meal at a time. They are on a mission from, well, Buddha.
“The reason why I came to this is because I truly believe – in life we all want to do something that will make a difference,” David said. “I felt that if I promote vegetarianism in the U.S., I am truly making a difference for the people.” He continued by sharing some sound family advice: “I was forewarned by my parents that it was tough, but bottom-line, I believe in promoting vegetarianism. When you do good for others, it’s karma. It comes back to you.”
Darryn agreed. “I think there are only so many businesses that you can do to not only make money but have a positive impact on society. This is one of the few,” he said.
When Darryn was 4 and David 9, their parents immigrated to America from Taiwan. They and their older brother, James, briefly settled in Elmhurst, Queens, and moved to Paramus, N.J., two years later. The Wus started a jewelry business, working in the field for 10 years before tackling the restaurant industry.
Although they were novices, they were convinced New York City was ready for a vegetarian restaurant. In 1991, the first Zen Palate opened, designed by Tony Chi to resemble a Buddhist retreat. The menu was created by The Wu brothers’ mother, now 55, who came from a family of vegetarians and trained by cooking for Buddhist monks in Taiwan.
There are now four Zen Palate restaurants in Manhattan.
Meanwhile, David studied civil engineering at Cooper Union and eventually obtained a master’s at Columbia. Darryn studied computer science at Rutgers. Despite their academic and professional success, David and Darryn kept kicking around the idea of opening up their own restaurant. (James, now 37, is a controller of the real estate group for Morgan Stanley in China.)
It took a year for Gobo to become a concrete idea – during which time Darryn took night classes at the New York Restaurant School for his restaurant management degree. While the restaurant had to be vegetarian, David and Darryn wanted to offer something different from their parents’ place.
Gobo needed to look younger, warmer, “more receptive to vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike,” David said. The food would be global in inspiration and as organic as possible. Their place would also offer wine and beer, a Buddhist no-no.
Sure, a Buddha graces the restaurant, but otherwise, religion takes a back seat to providing delicious vegetarian cuisine with a friendly smile.
“My father is a devout Buddhist,” Darryn said. “When he opened the restaurant, he felt that Buddhism was a strong component of the restaurant concept. For David and I, we just wanted an all-vegetarian cuisine in its simplest form – great, delicious food with no meat and no seafood.”
Their parents were supportive and gave only a little advice: “Don’t open a restaurant just to make money,” Ms. Chen recalled. “You can open any restaurant and do that. Be kind and compassionate by teaching people about the vegetarian lifestyle.”
When it came time for the two brothers to create the global menu, they turned to their mother, naturally. After all, she cooked for the Dali Lama when he visited New York City in 1988. To prepare, she traveled to Taiwan to study the latest in vegetarian cooking.
Gobo opened in 2002 on Sixth Avenue, next to a McDonald’s and a stone’s throw from Gray’s Papaya. It has been such a hit that the two brothers opened another on the Upper East Side this month.
Twenty percent of Gobo uptown’s menu will be different from that of the original location thanks to new desserts, new smoothies and juices, and raw food additions.
Next up: they hope to open branches in Boston, Chicago – even possibly Beijing. “Our intention was not to have one restaurant but to have multiple restaurants and to expose a lot of non-vegetarians to this lifestyle,” Darryn said.