"The cooks appreciate my being here; in fact, they say I work too hard," Skedros said. "They always worry about me. Having us here encourages them to perform to our expectations."

The restaurant's seven full-time chefs come from either Hong Kong or San Francisco and prepare more than 100 items for the restaurant. The menu boasts more than 20 different sauces. Skedros said that each of the sauces, from the General Tsao's Sauce to the Nanking Sauce, is unique.

"That's the great things about Chinese food," he said. "You can eat here nightly and you never get bored."

Although the restaurant is in Bountiful, Skedros said that they don't rely solely on the local population for business.

"With the LDS community during conference time, people come from all over the world, and it just seems like we're sort of the hot spot for many of the dignitaries," Skedros said. "It's just amazing where they come from. It's incredible."

Skedros has made several trips to Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing to taste the cuisine and pick up tips for his restaurant.

"It's really quite interesting to make these trips to China and see how close we are to the food there," Skedros said.

Although he said the restaurant is quite authentic, Skedros said that it has been condemned in the past for being too Americanized.

"You have to cater to the American public," Skedros said. "I can imagine if I featured stomach, tripe, chicken feet or sea cucumber on our menu — no one would order them."

Manfredini makes all of the restaurant's pastries and desserts, Skedros added, which are quite American.

The Mandarin, normally open 5-9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 5-10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, is closed until Oct. 10 for its annual renovation. The seven full-time Chinese chefs receive a three-week paid vacation each year.

"It's nice because many still have families in China," Skedros said.

Evenson has worked at the Mandarin for almost 15 years even though he said he doesn't really like Chinese food.

"They just treat me like family," Evenson said. "It's a family-run business and they make me feel like it's home."

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E-mail: nclemens@desnews.com