Did you know that restaurant services in the US is a $ 430 billion per year industry? Je n’ai pas.

Common sense would suggest that good restaurants be located in high-income areas like Silicon Valley. So why does PaloAlto – Menlo Park – Los Altos have so little to offer? After all, the population here eats a lot, and with the wealth generated by technology in the hands of relatively younger people, the demand is certainly there.

Here are some San Francisco restaurants I’d like to see in the valley:

-Thep Phenom: A wonderful Thai restaurant in the Haight-Ashbury district of the city, on Fillmore Street.
-Chez Nous: a French-Mediterranean fusion restaurant, also in Fillmore, but further north in Pacific Heights.

Of course, given Stanford’s student population, some cheaper alternatives might also be great to have on hand. Pakwan is perhaps the best Pakistani-Indian restaurant in the Bay Area, but it is conspicuously absent in the valley. In the cheap food category, this would be my pick.

In recent years, there have been some nice additions to the restaurant scene in Palo Alto, with Coupa Café being a notable and very successful example. This week we were at dinner with the owners, Nancy and Jean-Paul, and heard about their plans for a new Coupa Cafe on North Canon Drive in Beverly Hills. These are ambitious entrepreneurs.

Another hit is Tamarine from The Vung Tau Group. The group’s Vietnamese cuisine mixes gained their initial popularity with a loyal following among Vietnamese. The original Vung Tau restaurant, a twelve-table restaurant, opened in 1985 on San Carlos Street in San Jose, California. In less than two years, owners Nhan Huynh and Anthony Le relocated the restaurant to its current location at 535 East Santa Clara Street, going from serving 32 guests to 150.

The family opened a second Vung Tau restaurant in Milpitas, California. in 1996, and four years later, he opened a third Vung Tau in Newark, California. Tamarine, the family’s first contemporary Vietnamese restaurant in Palo Alto, is run by owner Anne Le (the prodigal daughter) and chef Tammy Huynh.

The Le family and the Vung Tau group provide a great example for people like Thep Phenom to follow. Chez Nous and Pakwan are expanding. Pakwan has chosen Fremont as the place to go after the city. It makes sense, because of the density of Indians. They could also go the Tamarine route and open a classier version in Silicon Valley, instead of the dives they currently have.

And if you have additional capital and want to buy a promising restaurant concept, all of these have their basic right.

Good food, I mean.