| As I was driving on
Brooks Street one day, I spotted a sign out of
the corner of my eye...Hong Kong Chef? Always
looking for a good Chinese food, I pulled in and
ordered something to eat. I knew right away
that this was going to be my Chinese
Restaurant. I was surprised to learn that they
had been in business 12 years. I had become one
of the chosen few to stumble onto this little
oasis. What they lacked in certain areas was
made up in the delicate sauces of the dishes.
Little did I know that three years hence i would
meet and marry the artist creating those
wonderful sauces, Wang Hao or "Teddy". This
furthered my journey into the Chinese realm. My
good friend, Amelia Ming, past owner of the
loved Ming's restaurant, claims I was Chinese in
a past life. With my Italian heritage, I'm
Chinese with an Attitude, though I must say that
the Chinese already have "Tude".
Hong Kong Chef had its own
colorful history...full of drama, women
fist-fighting, occasional meat cleaver fights
between Chinese cooks, juicy soap-box tails in
and around all of the Chinese restaurants and
outsiders pulled in. "Hong Kong Chef was
rockin' in its early years with people lined out
to the parking lot trying to get in for the real
McCoy"...says early servers. Wang Hao
wandered into Missoula January 2005 and began a
love/hate affair with Hong Kong Chef that has
lasted for 5 years. A talented chef with
the "touch" to make everything taste good, and a
gentle manner, he impressed me when I began
working there in 2007 and 6 months later we were
married and began our adventures together.
Wang Hao says that
Americans and Chinese are exact opposites in
everything. Entering the Chinese kitchen
was like going to another planet. It can
be shocking for those with romantic glasses on.
I have purposely looked into all of the Chinese
kitchens of every restaurant I have eaten at and
most times am greeted with a "Charles Dickens
Workhouse" look-alike.
Our last gig before the
creation of the "New Hong Kong Chef" was the
Lochsa Lodge, where I was manager and Hao
learned to cook a mean prime rib and called
himself the "Lochsa Burger Man". We
introduced to the mountains of Idaho the best
Chinese food...our competition was slim.
We tool on the Hong Kong
Chef this past April 16th and made necessary
changes to the interior and to food safety, and
though the menu looks different, we use it only
as an outline for meeting individual needs.
I always suffered from information
overload..."I'd like the # 354 dish please."
The atmosphere is clean and open - a meeting of
the East and West. We have a great staff
of young and old people from different parts of
the world, WIFI, outdoor
seating, to go and delivery. Our food is
pretty darn consistant, since Hao is the only
chef.
New Hong Kong Chef no
longer offers musical entertainment of any
variety. Though we offered weekly live
performers between July 16-Oct 21 (2010), and
despite their only playing originally-composed
music, the fees required for sustaining music in
our restaurant are more than we care to pay. We
apologize to customers for the quiet
environment. Luckily, the food is better than
ever and the employees are amazing, so we'll see
you soon! |
