Win and Sutida Somboonsong are retiring from the restaurant business, writes Michael Klein for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
They have been responsible for several elegant Asian restaurants in the western suburbs, including Thai Pepper, Mikado, Teikoku, Azie, and Blue Elephant.
They’ve turned their restaurant empire over to their oldest children, Pearl Somboonsong Murphy, 33; and Paul Somboonsong, 31.
The two have since premiered two new restaurants, Mama-San that opened in February in Radnor and now Maison Lotus, a French Vietnamese restaurant that opened in March in the same Wayne building that housed Margaret Kuo.
Murphy and Paul found out a while ago that Margaret and Warren Kuo were thinking of selling their Lancaster Avenue restaurant.
“Blue Elephant Wayne was doing very well, and I mentioned in passing to my brother, ‘The restaurant industry is actually quite fun, and there’s a lot of potential here, and there’s another project I’m eyeing, but I don’t think I have the bandwidth to do on my own,’” Murphy said.
Paul Somboonsong was looking for a career change and came on board with his sister to launch the Maison Lotus restaurant.
Read more about the restaurant dynasty of the Somboonsong family in The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on DELCO Today in March 2025.
