Carol Wang, the CEO and face of the entrepreneurial team behind Gardenia Los Gatos—a new café, bar and restaurant that will soon debut on North Santa Cruz Avenue—long dreamed of having her own coffeehouse.
“I love coffeehouse culture and the sense of community that coffeehouses create,” she says.
Coming up with a name proved more difficult than anticipated, and after much disappointment, she finally asked herself what she really loved.
“I have wanted a garden since I was a little girl,” she says. “My mother loved flowers, and her favorites were gardenias. I love their color and their fragrance. To me, they represent elegance and purity.”
The interior décor of the restaurant prominently features the flower. The location, a handsome Victorian on Santa Cruz Avenue, has been so very many things in its past life, from a Chart House to most recently a restaurant called The Palms. Its new incarnation will be a place where patrons gather over beverages brewed from fine single-origin beans.
We sit at a wooden table in the repainted second story. Natural light streams in, illuminating a series of sleek shelves that display a portion of Wang’s personal coffee cup collection, alongside custom-crafted mugs from a porcelain factory in China that’s been in business for centuries. Each is a work of art.
For someone who didn’t start drinking coffee until five years ago, she’s developed a remarkable grasp of gourmet coffee and the culture that thrives around it. One of the house specialties will be Panama Gesha beans from a family plantation in Panama called Lamastus Estates. Wang treasured meeting the owners in person. “They had a beautiful garden,” she says. “And I realized that the tiny white coffee flower is very similar to the gardenia. It even has a similar aroma.”
Wang grew up in China, attending Xi’an Jiaotong University’s medical school, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in clinical medicine, graduating in 1993. She began her career in internal medicine, but decided to put it on hold to raise her two children, now grown and pursuing their own life missions. “It was a hard decision,” she admits. “But it is one I don’t regret.” Her son works for a venture capital firm and her daughter, who loves the outdoors and pursues an active lifestyle, is helping her mom with social media for the new venture.
When Wang came to California, she lived in Danville, where she started a Chinese school. She taught students Mandarin and Chinese philosophy. She currently lives in Mountain View, but says Los Gatos has always been on her radar. Thinking it might be a good location for her dream business, she started looking for a space. And suddenly, there it was. The Palms, a place she’d enjoyed in the past, was vacant. It had plenty of outdoor space, which she felt was critical for a coffee house. “I really am so lucky,” she says, with a warm, appreciative smile. “Working with the landlord was so great. And everything went smoothly, like it was meant to be.”
Wang worked to preserve the character of the building, seeking only to make minor adjustments. The furnishings, decor and lighting fit the ambiance of a fine restaurant, beyond what one would expect in a typical café.
But make no mistake, this is Third Wave Coffee personified—from the baristas she’s hired to the coffee beans they are using. And there’s the brunch menu from Executive Chef David Intonato, formerly of Pine Creek Cookhouse in Aspen, which Wang describes as French-Asian fusion.
While she may not have intended to branch into fine dining, this place is absolutely meant for it. Wang and her business partners have taken their time to ensure every detail is in place before the doors open. “It’s been a big learning curve,” she admits.
Gardenia Los Gatos will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Aug. 2. Coffee will be served Monday-Sunday, 7:30am-3:30pm. Brunch will be served Tuesday-Sunday, 10:30am-2:30pm. Happy hour begins Aug. 6, and will run Tuesday-Sunday, 3:30-7pm. Dinner service is scheduled to start this fall.
