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Phin Nguyen, founder of Mai's Restaurant, has died

Fernando Alfonso III

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Mai's Restaurant opened in 1978 after Phin Nguyen and her husband immigrated from Vietnam.
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Mai's Restaurant opened in 1978 after Phin Nguyen and her husband immigrated from Vietnam.

Mai's Restaurant

The cofounder of popular Vietnamese eatery Mai's Restaurant in Houston has died.

Phin Nguyen, who opened Mai's Restaurant in 1978 with her husband Phac, was 88, her granddaughter and general manager Anna Pham told Chron.com.

READ MORE: Houston Restaurants that had absolutely no violations at the end of 2016

Nguyen suffered a stroke last year and was wheelchair bound, but that didn't stop her from being a presence at the restaurant, Pham said.

"She lived a really good life," Pham said. "When she declared she was going to retire, she really never retired."

Nguyen and her husband started the restaurant after immigrating from Vietnam after the fall of Saigon in the 1970s.

NEW BEGINNING: Mai's is better than ever

The restaurant caught fire in 2010 and Nguyen played a big part in rebuilding it. Today, it is run by Pham's mother, also named Mai.

The restaurant will be closed from Aug. 10 though Aug. 12 and reopen on Aug. 14.

Written By
Fernando Alfonso III

Fernando Alfonso III is a digital reporter for the Houston Chronicle.

Before joining the Chronicle, Alfonso was a reporter for Lexington's Herald-Leader. He also taught some journalism courses at the University of Kentucky.

Alfonso split his time at the Leader covering breaking news and combing the internet for Kentucky-specific content; such as the story on one of Eastern Kentucky's most iconic images and how one heroin addict used social media and science to cope. He also produced a series of stories on a disgraced family court judge.

Alfonso was the Daily Dot's first art director and an early staff writer before joining the Herald-Leader. He was hired at the company before it launched in the fall of 2011. The Daily Dot sent him on a GIF-fueled road trip across the country and helped him manufacture his own Ecstasy-free tablets. Alfonso also published deep dives into 4chan and Tumblr's history while hounding Reddit administrators to answer for a controversial forum.

Alfonso started his career as a crime and education reporter at The Post-Standard. An investigation and handful of late night stakeouts he did resulted in getting two public officials sacked. That work earned the newspaper some awards.

Follow him on Twitter.

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