After operating AZN Azian Cuizine for nearly 15 years in Mercato, its owners are retiring and permanently closing the North Naples restaurant at the end of the week.
“We are preparing for our retirement,” said Raymond Hsu, who co-founded AZN with his wife, Anna. “We sold our business and new people are coming in.”
Hsu didn’t want to reveal the new restaurant concept without the new owner’s permission, but he said it’s different than AZN, so it may be a few months before it opens in the 9118 Strada Place space beneath Mercato’s movie cinema, which is transitioning from Silverspot to Alamo Drafthouse.
“I think this new theater is going to be good and the new [restaurant] concept is going to be great for Mercato,” Hsu said.
When the Hsus—pronounced “shoes”—opened AZN at Mercato in March 2009, their restaurant was one of the first to launch at the mixed-use lifestyle center. The couple signed a 10-year lease and had a five-year extension for the 6,600-square-foot space. That long run ends Saturday night.
“We just appreciate all these years of support from the community,” Raymond Hsu said. “We love it here. Naples is beautiful.”
It’s the end of an impressive hospitality career that included the operation of about 15 restaurants during more than four decades. “This is the one I’ll remember the most,” Hsu said.
It’s not easy for the Hsus to walk away from the restaurant business. Both come from a long line of restaurateurs and chefs, so it’s a family tradition that is part of their DNA. His parents owned restaurants and nightclubs in Hong Kong; her family owned restaurants in Atlanta.
The Hsus met in Seattle in the 1970s while attending the University of Washington. He was born in Taiwan and raised in Hong Kong; she is of Chinese ancestry but from Korea. In addition to English, both speak Chinese, Korean and a little Japanese—so they know something about Asian fusion.
After graduating, Raymond Hsu initially worked as an electrical engineer at the Boeing Co. and Anna Hsu worked at a Seattle bank before they relocated to Atlanta to run restaurants. The couple has operated restaurants together for 45 years.
In the early ’80s, they opened the first Pan-Asian restaurant in Atlanta. AZN was a fusion of a trio of restaurants they owned in Atlanta, Hsu said, serving original dishes from China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, including a full sushi bar.
The Hsus sold all of their Atlanta restaurants in the last few years. Last year, the Atlanta Convention & Visitors Bureau inducted Anna Hsu into the Atlanta Hospitality Hall of Fame.
With the closing of AZN—their last restaurant—they plan to split their time between Naples and Atlanta. At 70, Hsu said he’s not too old to still move around and do want he wants.
“At least I can still go out and enjoy life,” he said. “It’s time to retire. We want to slow down and smell the roses.”
