Father and son bond over hard work at ‘Cozy Wok’

OAKLAND (KPIX) — Father’s Day is a time to thank dad with a relaxing day off but, in Oakland, one man did just the opposite — he put his father to work and it turned out to be a gift of understanding for both of them.

Keguang Zhao was a classically trained chef in China when he moved his family to California in 2000. He worked at a Los Angeles restaurant nearly every day until it closed in 2020.

“He was out of work because of the pandemic,” said his son, Dan Zhao. “But I knew that he didn’t like to sit around for too long.”

So, Dan, a tech worker in the Bay Area, gave his dad a chance at a new life. He found a little cooking space in an Oakland “ghost kitchen” and helped him create his own online virtual restaurant called the “Cozy Wok.” Now Keguang spends six days a week in his tiny kitchen, filling online orders for takeout customers at the Oakland Food Hall collective on 12th Street.

On nights and weekends, his son works right alongside him.

“I don’t know what he would have done if he wasn’t working and owning a restaurant,” said Dan about his father. “I’ve never seen him really relax or do anything, like, fun before.”

Dan convinced his dad to focus strictly on vegetarian dishe so Keguang adapted his menu to meatless versions of Chinese classics, like fried rice, pot stickers and a delicious plant-based orange “chicken” you’d swear was the real thing.

Dan is impressed with how open-minded his old man has been.

“I really enjoy working with my son,” said Keguang (with Dan translating). “He’s a fast learner and he does everything that I tell him to do.”

I hasn’t been easy. Dan said he has resented his father in the past for being absent from his life. Now, for the first time, he’s seen what restaurant work requires and he said he has more appreciation for what his father has done all these years.

“Before, I used to get a little bit mad at him for missing all my sports games and things like that when I was in high school,”  Dan said. “But now I’m a little bit more understanding.”

“I never expected to work with my son,” Keguang said. “After working together, our relationship got better because we just see each other more often.”

The son now appreciates his father’s hard work and the father now understands the importance of time with his son. The two have come together because, frankly, there just isn’t enough room in that kitchen for a generation gap.

Dan says he wants to set his father up in a sit-down restaurant when the pandemic is over. In the meantime, if you’d like to see what the “Cozy Wok” is serving, head to their website: http://cozywok.com