Our Philosophy
What do you get when you take a trained French chef and insult the cuisine of his forefathers? Thomas Ma, of course!
The T.S. Ma story begins in Hong Kong where Thomas’ father, Sin Kan Ma, also a chef, specialized in American Continental Cuisine. When the family emigrated to America in 1969, Sin Kan returned to his Chinese roots and began cooking the foods of his homeland with Thomas by his side, learning and absorbing everything. When Thomas graduated high school, he decided to continue his education and become – a French chef!
He greatly admired French cuisine, with its use of the finest ingredients, elaborate cooking techniques and originality. All was well until one day he read a food critic’s article declaring that Chinese food was unhealthy. In his heart, Thomas knew that wasn’t true, and it lit a fire in him to return to Chinese cuisine, with an emphasis on making it as healthy and authentic as he knew it could be. He began applying the principles of fine French cooking to authentic Chinese cuisine, discovering which techniques worked the best, using only the freshest ingredients and preparing the dishes in a healthy way.
Thomas has devoted years to infusing authentic Chinese cuisine with good-tasting, and good-for-you, 21st century flair. He and his son, Chris, continue to refine and improve their food every day.
As Thomas listened to his customers, he sought the advice of the health-conscious and researched how he could made his food healthier and fresher. His first step was to eliminate the canned vegetables that most Chinese restaurants rely on so heavily.
He substituted canola oil for soybean oil. He incorporated lesser-known green vegetables like bok choy, baby cabbage and Chinese broccoli into his dishes. He replaced plain white meat chicken with more succulent white meat chicken tenderloins and replaced lesser cuts of beef with flank steak. He even found and began to use higher quality soy sauce in place of the cheaper, more commonly used ones.
The ultimate step was to make his own sauces in-house, and Thomas did just that. Every day, T.S. Ma prepares 20 different freshly made sauces under the oversight of Thomas’ chef and partner, Mr. Chen. This gives him the ability to offer a host of vegetarian, low-salt and gluten-free dishes and to accommodate many special dietary requests. To clarify, All dishes that are prepared gluten free are made with no gluten-containing ingredients. However, due to the risk of cross contamination these items may contain gluten . If you have a serious food allergy please take note and inform your server to ensure that your meal is prepared according to your dietary restrictions. T.S. Ma has been called a “Vegetarian Goldmine.”
Thomas remains vigilant about the quality of his food and regularly brings home take-out from his own restaurant to sample the food as it would arrive at a customer’s home. At T.S. Ma it is known that take-out doesn’t sit around waiting for a driver, the driver waits for the freshly-made take-out!
As Thomas says, “I am always thinking about how to give the best value to my customers by giving them the freshest, most authentic Chinese food. We don’t serve Thai or Sushi or fusion food, I just want to make Chinese food better and better! That’s my passion.”
We recommend all of our dishes without question! Our House Specials are fresh and delicious. We suggest you try some of our signature dishes, like Sauteed Shrimp with Ginger and Scallion (jumbo shrimp plain sautéed with fresh ginger, scallions and wine, served on a bed of separately sautéed green vegetable)…or Crispy Beef or Chicken Szechuan Style (julienned flank steak or white meat chicken tenders lightly fried, then sautéed with Chef Chen’s spicy garlic sauce and served with julienned vegetables) or our Sesame White Meat Chicken (chicken tenderloins lightly fried and glazed with our freshly made brown sauce and garnished with fresh broccoli.) Whatever you choose, you are sure to be delighted!