BE’s China Restaurant closed last week
O’Reilly Auto Parts takes over ownership of building on Feb. 1
After nearly 12 years of operation in Blue Earth, the China Restaurant on Highway 169 has closed its doors for good.
Their last day in business in Blue Earth was last Sunday, Jan. 21.
Owners Lisa Zheng and her husband Kinh Dao Hoong say they plan on retiring.
“It is time for him to retire,” Zheng says, referring to her husband. “He has spent over 40 years standing up for 12 hours a day, cooking and working in the kitchen.”
Hoong was the chef at the China Restaurant for the past nearly 12 years. But before that he was a chef in Dallas, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts and then in Minnesota, first in Fairmont and then in Blue Earth.
People do not always realize that it is not just the cooking, but also all of the prep work and cleanup, Zheng says.
“My husband always wanted to make all the food by hand, not buy it premade and frozen. So we always used fresh vegetables and good meat, all our dishes were homemade,” Zheng adds. “Including the egg rolls, we did not buy from a factory.”
They decided to retire now, and not later, when they had an offer from a business to buy their building. That offer came from O’Reilly Auto Parts, which is currently located in downtown Blue Earth.
“It seemed to be the right time to sell the building and close the restaurant,” Zheng says. “But, it has made us very sad and happy at the same time. We have had so many people come in, not just to buy food, but to tell us they are so sad we are closing, and they say they will miss us, but they are happy we are able to retire.”
The couple first closed the inside dining and did takeout orders only the last few days.
On Friday, Jan. 20, their third to last day in operation, they were so busy they ran out of most food items. “People were ordering 15 meals at a time,” Zheng says. “We could hardly keep up. And we were running out of many items.”
Instead of just locking the doors forever right then and now, Zheng says her husband went to Mankato on Saturday morning and bought more food supplies and started getting ready for Saturday customers.
“He said that we had told everyone we would be open through Sunday,” Zheng says. “So, he wanted to have food ready for them.”
It was another rush on Saturday, and then again on Sunday.
On Monday, they were having all the kitchen equipment, dining room tables, chairs and booths and just about everything else in the place up for sale on an online auction.
There were a few things, like some of the artwork on the walls and a chandelier, that their daughter wanted them to keep and put in their home in Fairmont.
“She thought we needed something to remind us of the restaurant in Blue Earth,” Zheng explains. “She was very sad we were closing the restaurant. She is the youngest and grew up in the restaurant. She is 20 now. I tell her to let it go, but she says she cannot let it go.”
Zheng and Hoong have four adult children. Three of them, Tony, Morgan and Paulina, live in California, while Jackie lives in Minneapolis.
Tony flew home from California and spent 10 days helping his parents run the restaurant and get it ready to close, all at the same time.
Now that they are going to retire, Zheng and Hoong have a few plans.
“We are going to spend some time together,” Zheng says. “We took time off from the restaurant, but hardly ever together. My husband said we could not close the restaurant for a vacation or a day off together.”
Hoong is going to take a trip alone, however. He plans to travel to China in March and see his family there, that he has not seen in many, many years.
After that, the couple plans on doing some traveling together, maybe to China or even Europe, sometime.
But they will definitely be going to California as often as they can to see their children there.
“We might even spend winters there, and summers in Minnesota,” Zheng says.
For now, they are busy clearing everything out. The official takeover date for O’Reilly’s to own the building is Feb. 1. The sale includes both sides of the building, the part which was the China Restaurant, and the other half which has been empty or used for storage for 12 years.
A spokeman for O’Reilly’s says they will use both sides of the building for a larger store and distribution center. Remodeling is expected to begin this spring, with the new store opening either in late July or first part of August.