“I cook all the time, I don’t think that will ever change,” she told the Democrat in July.
“Lucy Ho. A Tallahassee tradition.”
That’s what a Democratic writer called the restaurant owner in 2005, and he wasn’t wrong.
Another reporter said in 2017 that every Asian coming to Tallahassee must meet Lucy.
Over the years she has been called a “dynamo” and a “pioneer”.
“I love people, I love talking to people,” she told Democratic writer Gerald Ensley in 2012. “I’m very happy to see my clients happy.”
With over 10 restaurants to her name in Tallahassee and throughout Florida since 1970, Lucy is a fixture among foodies in our community who have been fortunate enough to sample her homemade spring rolls, sweet and sour pork, and teriyaki chicken.
These are just some of the local favorites that Lucy has enjoyed preparing over the past 50 years.
“I cook all the time, I don’t think that will ever change,” Lucy told the Democrat in July.
Lucy was born in Taipei, Taiwan in 1931 and moved to Tallahassee in 1968 to be with her husband, John Ho, who was an anthropology professor at Florida State University.
“In the ’60s, the only food in town was Italian at Joe’s Spaghetti House and Mom and Dad’s, Hispanic-Cuban at Garcia’s, and the weekly nationalities of FSU’s Little Dinner Series,” wrote restaurant critic Ashby Stiff in 1999.
“So it was no surprise that the opening of Lucy Ho’s Bamboo Garden on East Sixth Avenue in 1970 caused a stir among diners rarely seen since. A Chinese restaurant. Wonderful! The little chopstick pagoda took off like a 747, and soon a tatami room and Japanese specialties were added upstairs.”
Lucy also worked as a costume designer, sewing hems and seams for FSU operas since the late 1960s.
“This is a remarkable woman,” Stiff commented in 2005.
At the end of July this year, Japanese Consul General in Miami Kazuhiro Nakai presented Lucy with the Imperial Decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun, Silver Rays, at a ceremony held at her Masa on Monroe Street. The decoration, awarded by the Emperor of Japan, is given to people who have promoted and maintained relations between Japan and foreign countries.
Fluent in Japanese, Lucy has been supporting Japanese FSU students and Tallahassee’s Japanese community for years.
After the earthquake and tsunami in 2011, Lucy organized fundraisers and a memorial service to commemorate the victims of the disaster that killed about 20,000 people.
Her influence has played a crucial role in fostering a strong interest in Japanese culture within the Tallahassee community and her efforts have “tremendously enriched cultural exchange and understanding in the region,” the consulate said in a statement.
Lucy now spends half the year in Japan and Taiwan. Even at 92, she still uses her fashion talent to make bags and clothes for her family and friends, and also makes time to cook – recently she has been making pork stew with boiled eggs and onigiri, Japanese rice balls.
“I’m still learning very interesting things about cooking and costumes,” she said.
A timeline of Lucy’s Restaurants in Tallahassee
- 1970–2000: Lucy Ho’s Bamboo Garden
- 1992–2008: Lucy Ho’s Oriental Bistro
- 2005-present: Masa
- 2009-present: Azu Lucy Ho’s
- 2018-present: Dao
This story is part of TLH 200: the Gerald Ensley Bicentennial Memorial Project. During our city’s 200th anniversary, we will draw on the research of the Tallahassee Democrat columnist and historian to revisit Tallahassee’s history. Read more at tallahassee.com/tlh200. Ana Goñi-Lessan can be reached at [email protected].
