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The way Mary Wong sees it, owning a restaurant is a lot like being a hospital nurse, which she was in her native China.

"You take care of people," the owner of the Dragon Village Restaurant said of both occupations.

Apparently, Wong and her staff took such good care of a mystery diner or diners a few weeks ago that her Oro Valley business ended up being named one of the top 100 Chinese restaurants in the country by an industry magazine.

The Dragon Village won in the Chinese/Asian fusion category and the signature-dish category for its sesame chicken.

The Chinese Restaurant News, a California trade publication, created the awards in 2004, said Betty Xie, editor in chief.

The goal of the annual awards is to promote Chinese cuisine nationally, she said.

"It also helps Chinese restaurants to try to raise the bar," Xie said.

Winners include everything from high-end restaurants to mom-and-pop operations, which Xie said make up the bulk of Chinese restaurants.

Besides Dragon Village, six Arizona eateries in the Phoenix area were honored by the magazine, including Scottsdale-based P.F. Chang's China Bistro for "metro favorite" and Bamboo Inn in Goodyear (west of Phoenix), for overall excellence.

Wong, 37, said she was flabbergasted when she received a letter with the news. In November, she flew to New York for a gala event where celebrity chef Martin Yan was among those handing out awards.

Wong said she was ecstatic to meet him.

"He is my idol," Wong said of Yan, whom she started watching on television when she moved to Arizona from China in 1993. "He's a good cook; he's funny and delightful."

One of the trophies she received at the Nov. 11 event now sits on her restaurant counter. A framed photograph of Wong, Yan and other chefs hangs on a nearby wall.

Wong and her husband, Chi Ping Chan, opened the Dragon Village in January 2003 in a Safeway shopping center at North Rancho Vistoso Boulevard and East Tangerine Road.

From the beginning, the former nurse focused on the business side of the restaurant. Her husband, a longtime cook of Chinese food, took over the kitchen.

The two complement each other, Wong said. She's the social one.

"My husband, he loves the kitchen, he loves to cook," she said. "I love to talk to customers, to make sure they leave happy."

Officers Steve Archuleta and Jeff Douglas, who work for the Oro Valley Police Department, are two satisfied customers.

They were among a growing lunch crowd that began arriving after 11 a.m. on a recent day, gradually filling the restaurant's 15 tables.

"It's the best food for the best price," said Archuleta, a frequent customer who enjoyed the restaurant's popular Mongolian beef dish over lunch.

Douglas, who was eating sweet and sour pork, nodded in agreement — his mouth was too full for him to speak.