Viet Hoa Nguyen, co-owner and head chef of Tea Cafe on the Corner, died at 47 on July 30.
Nguyen, an OU alum, earned his degree in mechanical engineering in 2002, according to his niece Nini Wu. Following graduation, Nguyen moved to California to work at Lockheed Martin designing satellites, according to Wu.
In 2005, Nguyen moved back to Norman to marry his wife, Rita Weng, who he met at a house party in Norman in 2002. A year later, in 2006, the two took over Tea Cafe from Weng’s family.
Nguyen had a “huge passion” for cooking, according to Wu, who remembers her uncle as an amazing chef who shared his culture through food.
“A lot of the recipes that everyone loves today with Tea Cafe are his personal recipes that he came up with and refined over the years,” Wu said.
Inside Tea Cafe, Nguyen had a notebook full of handwritten recipes he created through trial and error. One of his recipes was for chicken fried rice.
“The chicken fried rice recipe is a huge hit in Norman, …” Wu said. “I would imagine he would say that's probably one of the simplest ones, but it is hard to make a really good flavored chicken fried rice.”
Nguyen wasn’t shy about sharing his recipes or asking how he could improve them. Longtime customer and friend Tammie Richard remembers her daughter asking Nguyen how to make his hot and sour soup.
“He'd be like, ‘Oh no, no problem.’ So he'd give her the recipe, and it has never tasted the same like his,” Richard said. “But he gave her the recipe. He was just a sweet guy.”
When Nuygen found out Richard was a former Navy cook, he began asking her if there was anything he could change in his food.
“We never really even had to do that,” Richard said. “The food was just so good, (he) didn't have to worry about it.”
Richard remembers Nguyen and Weng greeting them every time they came into Tea Cafe.
“I guess whenever we came in, they could see on the camera who was there. So he'd come out and say, ‘Hey, how's it going? How's it been?’ …” Richard said. “He always made that effort to make sure that the food was good for you that night, just a caring person.”
One evening the Richards invited the couple over for a gumbo dinner. Richard remembered the gumbo wasn't what they wanted it to be that night, but Nguyen reassured them that he knew they could cook.
“That night we had so much fun, …” Richard said. “It was just like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Them being in our house was finally like, ‘Oh, you guys finally came over.’”
Richard said she will remember Nguyen as wonderful.
“He cared about everybody that came into that store. He wanted to make it the best experience as he could,” Richard said.
Nguyen was also an avid sports fan. While attending East Central High School in Tulsa, Nguyen was an all-state wrestler and won the 1997 Class 4A 130-pound individual state championship.
Viet Hoa Nguyen was an all-state wrestler and won the 1997 Class 4A 130-pound individual state championship.
Being an OU graduate, Nguyen loved Sooner athletics and the athletes loved him back. During former Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray’s Heisman speech, he shouted out Tea Cafe as the place he’d take his offensive line out for food.
“You guys keep me safe,” Murray said of the offensive line. “You may hurt my pockets on Wednesday at Tea Cafe. I'd run through a wall for you boys.”
Wu said she thought Murray’s reference brought joy to her uncle.
“Having athletes like the food enough to come back week after week, which is, I think, what Kyler and his O-line did, I think speaks to his recipes that are bringing people back,” Wu said.
Nguyen was also a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder. During its championship run in the summer of 2025, Nguyen bought himself a single ticket to Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Wu recalled also being at the game, sitting separately with her father and seeing Nguyen multiple times on the jumbotron.
“He was just so excited, like just sitting by himself, yelling at the players, really excited with his sunglasses on indoors,” Wu said.
Wu remembers her uncle as deliberate.
“He was a very intentional person. It didn't matter if you were family, a friend or a longtime customer or an employee. He really cared about what was going on in your life, …” Wu said. “He would ask you about yourself, ask you about your family and he would remember it the next time you came in.”
San Cho, a longtime employee of Nguyen's, said he owes all of his success to Nguyen for mentoring him.
“He changed my life as well as many other people, he's impacted so many students, college students. A lot of employees, it was their first job. (He) taught me everything about work ethic, everything about business,” Cho said. “I think he really instilled a work ethic in me and a lot of people at a very young age.”
Nguyen is remembered as someone who guided others.
“He just had an open-door policy, and if you were hungry for knowledge and to be better, he was always there for you,” Cho said. “At a drop of a hat, with all you need, (he’d) give you the tools for life, especially for younger students that work there.”
Since he was 17, Cho had a running joke with Nguyen that Nguyen would take him to Las Vegas on his 21st birthday. When it came around, they actually went.
“We both flew out to Vegas and then to California to meet a lot of his family,” Cho said. “That's probably one of my favorite memories of just joking about him taking me to Vegas when I turned 21, and he actually did.”
Cho remembered Nguyen as the most optimistic person he’d ever met.
“I always also told him that his brain is such an engineering brain, so logical. He thought like an engineer.” Cho said.
Nguyen has a daughter, Roselyn Nguyen.
Viet Hoa Nguyen with his daughter, Roselyn Nguyen, and his wife, Rita Weng.
“He loved his wife Rita and really loved his daughter, Roselyn. (He) put his head down and worked hard for his family,” Cho said.
Wu recalls Nguyen being a fun uncle, and said it translated to fatherhood.
“He was very involved in Roselyn's life, making sure that she was set up to be successful, and that's why he worked so hard in the restaurant,” Wu said. “He wanted to make sure that she had every means and every opportunity to be successful.”
This story was edited by Audrey McClour.
