Madame Wu and then-Gov. Pete Wilson at a closing party at Madame Wu’s Garden in 1998.(Ken Hively / Los Angeles Times)
LOS ANGELES — Her long black hair piled atop her head and stunning in a floor-length silk gown, Madame Sylvia Wu would step from her Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud and — smiling broadly — push open the red double doors of her pagoda-style restaurant, already teeming with customers.
On a given night, Frank Sinatra and his young bride, Mia Farrow, would be enjoying a plate of Wu’s beef, stir-fried shards of flank steak with onions and oyster sauce. Mae West showed up on Sundays and faithfully ordered the cold melon soup, while Gregory Peck and Paul Newman fancied the shrimp toast and crab puffs. Princess Grace of Monaco gushed about the Peking roast duck.
