By Albert Chang-Yoo and Emma Loenicker
Kevin and Linh Le’s restaurant Vien Dong has stood at the center of the Lincoln International District for over 35 years. Opened in 1989 by Linh’s parents, Vien Dong — which translates to ‘Far East’ — was the first Vietnamese restaurant in the area.
Both Kevin and Linh immigrated to the U.S. from Vietnam: Kevin in 1975 and Linh in 1982. Linh’s parents opened Vien Dong in 1989 after running another Vietnamese restaurant in Seattle for a few years. The widely beloved Vien Dong had been a successful business for decades when Linh and her husband Kevin inherited it in 2004. “I don’t know how her parents were doing it when I first met her. Her parents worked seven days a week. From 7 a.m. to like 10 or 11 p.m.,” Kevin said. “So when we took over, we decided to close on Tuesday,” Linh chimed in with a smile. Kevin and Linh describe the restaurant business as “hard but fun” at the same time.
Kevin attended Lincoln High School nearby, while Linh helped her parents out on weekends. Kevin and Linh’s life together was first kindled in the warm and communal atmosphere of Vien Dong, a trend they say has continued through the decades. They’ve now been married for 30 years. Kevin and Linh have seen several couples from Puget Sound, Pacific Lutheran and beyond through the various stages of their blossoming relationships. In a few fortuitous cases, Kevin and Linh have even played matchmaker. “You know, this restaurant has magic,” Linh said, smiling.
Until the turn of the century, there were limited Vietnamese restaurants in the Seattle-Tacoma area, according to Kevin and Linh. The occasional Thai or Chinese restaurant left a gap in the market that Linh’s parents could fill with pho, a popular Vietnamese soup traditional to north Vietnam. “Both of my parents are from the North. So all the food that we’ve been eating is actually from the North,” Linh said. In cold winters especially, steaming hot pho generates good business. “It’s gotten so popular in the past 20 years,” Kevin exclaimed. Linh attributes the expansion of business to the growing appeal of Vietnamese cuisine to Western customers.
In the three decades since its opening, Vien Dong has seen its ups and downs. In the ’90s, the Lincoln District was often the site of gang activity. “Back then, around 7 o’clock, this place would be a ghost town,” Linh said. In 1998, members of an Asian gang opened fire at the Trang Dai Cafe, just down the street from Vien Dong. It was one of the worst mass shootings in Tacoma’s history, with four dead and five wounded. For four months, business at the restaurant slowed. “I remember a lot of people, it took a while for them to feel safe,” Linh said.
Starting in 2014, the city of Tacoma approved an infrastructure revitalization project for the Lincoln District. The project cleaned up the district, improved walkability, and rebranded it as the International District. “It’s unbelievable how things have changed so much within the past 20 years,” Kevin said. The district has grown steadily populated with Asian restaurants: “we was the original, and then another one opened up, then another restaurant.” Vien Dong now stands alongside dozens of other small businesses in the district, mostly owned and operated by Tacoma’s Asian immigrant community.
Through it all, Kevin and Linh have kept Vien Dong a thriving and beloved business. They have dozens of stories about memorable customers, all of which reflect the heart of the Le family. They recounted the time a Cambodian couple left behind a gold bar at the restaurant, which Linh safeguarded until the panicked couple returned. And the time a customer from north Seattle forgot their cell phone, so Kevin and Linh drove to deliver it to them at a halfway point. “If anybody leaves something behind here, it’s safe,” Linh said.
One loyal customer, they described, used to visit the restaurant every single day. “He’d come in and eat, leave the money on the table, walk about — never saying anything,” Kevin said. “Throughout 15, 18 years he’d still leave the same amount. We never say anything to him.” Both Kevin and Linh have developed a deep fondness for many of their customers, which they express with profound acts of kindness, like occasionally delivering soup for long-time customers when they’re sick. The food and community they provide is a labor of love that creates an ever-palpable sense of belonging.
The services Kevin and Linh provide to their community come back around to benefit them. “I believe in good karma, it will return,” Kevin said, and it doesn’t seem like he is exaggerating. In 2021, Vien Dong was one of several businesses in the Lincoln District targeted by vandalism. According to a post on their Instagram, the restaurant received a call telling them to “go back to your country,” followed by their window being smashed in. The police later concluded the two incidents were unrelated. “The whole community came out,” Kevin recalled. They were flooded with phone calls from loyal customers asking how they could provide support. A representative from Congresswoman Marilyn Strickland’s office stopped by to check on them. Their window was fixed by a local company pro bono. “Oh my god, it was so awesome,” Kevin said.
“My wife and we love this community. Tacoma always been good to us, our family,” Kevin said. “I just want to give back the community. We just like it here so much. The people here been really, really nice to us.”
Kevin and Linh have spent their careers running Vien Dong alongside a long-time staff they consider family and their two college-aged children. Although part of Vien Dong’s charm is its intergenerational character, Kevin and Linh are soon ready to pass the torch, and are certain neither of their children will take over. “I don’t think we’ll be a third generation. I think, my wife and I, that’s it. We’re gonna hang it up. We’re gonna hang it up, hopefully travel,” Kevin said. Linh has already begun exploring future ownership of the restaurant.
What will become of the restaurant is unclear as Kevin and Linh prepare to enter a new season of life. What’s clear, though, is the profound impact Vien Dong has had in shaping the identity of today’s Lincoln District and the larger Tacoma community, and all that the restaurant has meant to Kevin and Linh over the years. “We share so much with you guys, you know, family, stories, birthdays, reunions, graduations,” Kevin said. “That’s the thing I’m going to miss the most, sharing those memories.”