Tien's Place a community hub in Columbia Falls

Not a day goes by that Tien Windauer isn’t thankful for winding up in Columbia Falls.

That’s why he’s poured his heart and soul into a family restaurant there for the last nine years.

Windauer owns and operates Tien’s Place on U.S. 2 in Columbia Falls, a community hub and the place where the town’s championship sports teams go for a free meal after their big wins.

“Every morning when I put my key through the door I’m so thankful,” Windauer said. “I feel I owe the community a lot of favors. Without their support I wouldn’t be here.”

The Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce recently recognized Windauer’s contributions to the community since he graduated from Columbia Falls High School in 1990. The Chamber made its first scholarship donation to the high school’s new academic endowment fund in his honor.

During a touching speech given by Windauer at the Chamber’s annual awards luncheon in December, he thanked those who have helped him along the way.

Windauer was just 14 when his father helped him escape from Vietnam to a refugee camp in Malaysia in the early 1980s. His father, who assisted the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, had a fishing boat Tien used to secretly flee his homeland.

He remembers the embrace from his father, the heartfelt “I love you,” and realized later his father never expected to see his oldest son again. It was a risky trip and so many perished along the way. There are estimates that nearly 500,000 of the two million Vietnamese “boat people” died during their escape.

Back in Columbia Falls, Bob and Judy Windauer had decided they wanted to adopt a Vietnamese boy through a Lutheran Social Services program. They wanted a boy 15 years old or younger, and by a random luck of the draw from some 2,000 names, Tien was picked.

The Windauers adopted Tien in 1984.

“For me, coming to America very fortunate,” he said.

He remembers how frightened he was when he started school at Gateway Elementary, not knowing but a few words of English. During his speech at the Chamber luncheon, he recognized Derek Toren as one of the students who helped him adjust.

“A handful of teachers worked with me one on one,” Windauer recalled. “That patience made me driven to do better.”

And with his adopted parents as community leaders and mentors, Windauer poured himself into athletics, excelling in football, wrestling and track. He was a member of the 1990 championship wrestling team, and the team picture hangs proudly in his restaurant.

After high school, Windauer lived in several places around the country and contemplated a career in either forestry (he worked several summers as a firefighter for the Forest Service) or computer-aided design drafting.

Along the way, though, he had dabbled in restaurant work, including a stint at a Philadelphia Cheesesteak Factory restaurant in Virginia.

He also worked at the Alley Connection in Kalispell, washing dishes. His parents had encouraged him to take that job so he would retain the ability to speak Vietnamese.

Windauer returned to the Flathead Valley in 1996 and went to work for his classmate and friend Matt Riley doing masonry work. Together they worked on high-end homes in Iron Horse on Big Mountain and other construction projects.

When it came time for Windauer to start his own business, Riley was there.

“He said, ‘You helped me, now I help you,’” Windauer said. “He was the one who gave me a little push.

“He’s a good friend. We’re both workaholics so we get along fine,” he added with a laugh.

Windauer also has gotten a lot of help from Greg Bauska and Steve Ferkovich, owners of the building he leases.

“I can’t ask for better landlords or friends,” he said.

Tien’s Place is a small “ma and pa” business in the truest sense.

Windauer’s wife, Maureen, works there and “does the running around,” and Tien is the lone cook. They have built a small “family room” at the restaurant, complete with a bunk bed, recliner and small desk so their children have a place to do homework and spend time after school.

The couple have four children: Brendan, 15, Mailee, 10, Riley, 8 and Bailey, 2 1/2.

“I spend a lot of time here,” Windauer said. “I get home usually 1 or 2 in the morning, and that’s early. The first four or five year it was 3 o’clock in the morning.”

Windauer has a crew of 15 full- and part-time employees, but he does all of his own chopping, dicing and other prep work and admits he’s particular about how he wants things.

He refers to his cuisine as Oriental because it’s a mix of various Asian dishes. Kung pao chicken and Mongolian beef are two of his most popular dishes, but his best seller is the all-American Chad Burger, named after a local construction worker who requested the monster burger years ago.

“He ate that burger every day for four or five years,” Windauer said. “Now he eats Oriental food, too.”

The Chad Burger comes on a bed of fries, piled so high with sautéed mushrooms, bacon and other goodies that Windauer sticks a chopstick through each burger to hold it all together.

Windauer strives to cater to special requests. He has a Weight Watchers menu, offers gluten-free entrees and reserves a special wok to cook for a group of Jewish customers who don’t eat pork.

“I focus on everybody,” he said. “I’m a people person and this is perfect for me.”

Large framed photographs of various school sports teams indicate how involved Windauer remains in the community. He helps out with fundraisers for sick children, donates to the Boys and Girls Club and gives back whenever he can.

That community loyalty has been rewarded with a full restaurant even during the recession of the past few years.

Tien’s Place has won the Chamber’s coveted Harvest Homecoming decorating contest award for the last seven years, and Windauer already is trying to think of creative ideas for this fall.

“It’s hard and harder to come up with ideas,” he said.

Windauer has returned to Vietnam twice, once as a graduation present from his parents in 1990 and again in 2000. His parents and his five siblings are doing well there, and by sending money home through the years he was able to pay for college for his brothers and sisters.

There’s not much down time for Windauer.

Tien’s Place is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4:30 to 9 p.m. seven days a week. Windauer wouldn’t have it any other way.

“I feel so fortunate,” he said.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by email at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com.