Long before May-May’s was a bag of chips, it was Grant Avenue in San Francisco’s Chinatown.

Our family founded and helped build iconic restaurants like Far East Cafe and Sam Woo – where the tea flowed nonstop and the flavors were as loud as the aunties.

My grandma May grew up there with her siblings, went off to UC Berkeley, then brought that hustle to Los Angeles. She and my grandfather – our Gung Gung – opened a restaurant downtown, where the kids worked shifts after school (some more enthusiastically than others). The older siblings waited tables and helped in the kitchen, while the littlest sister, Nani, sorted silverware and perfected the art of after-school snacking.

The family restaurants were the legacy.

But the real legend came later.

In true family style, May's homemade Chinese chicken salad took on a life of its own.

May’s was first. Every sister made her own. But Nani’s was the one.

The secret wasn’t just the dressing – it was the freshly fried wontons.

May-May’s starts there.