Ofelia Gomez was given a choice at an early age: laundry or cooking? She chose the latter. Little did she know that one day that choice would help her open her own restaurant, Ofelia's Kitchen. The Hillcrest Avenue mainstay has been serving sandwiches, soups, salads and frozen yogurt to local residents for more than 15 years. The quality of the food isn't the only reason for the restaurant's longevity. Ofelia Gomez's habit of treating customers like family has helped. "I try to make my restaurant feel like my home." she said. "I want my customers to enjoy their food, but to relax, too, like …

Sara Pickens has a fallback plan when it comes to cheering a person up: Let 'em Eat Cake. The phrase may sound familiar to area residents — it's the name of Pickens' bakery on Vasco Road. Let 'em Eat Cake was started in 1987 by Pickens' mother, Anne, who had a passion for baking cakes. She ran it out of her home in Middletown, a town of about 1,000 residents in Lake County. When the Pickens family moved to Utah, they opened their first standalone business. Pickens and her sister, Dawn, helped their mother run the bakery. The family eventually returned to California, where Pickens took over …

Any meal prepared by Prakin Gamble does more than satisfy customers who visit her Lanna Thai restaurant. It offers a taste of her culture and history. Gamble, who was raised in the small southern Thailand city of Trang, began cooking at an early age to support her family. "I began cooking when I was 7 or 8," Gamble said. "My family was very poor, and when I got home from school I helped my family by cooking our meals." That southern Thailand-style food Gamble was raised on will be the focus of the family-owned restaurant's new menu, to be unveiled Friday. The dishes will feature more …