Cafe Asia fans, take heart: The longtime owners are opening a new east-side restaurant
Some longtime fans of Cafe Asia at 6546 E. Central did not take it well when they learned that the restaurant would be closing for good on New Year’s Eve.
But not all is lost, as it turns out. Yook and Mike Gan, who opened Cafe Asia Normandie Shopping Center in 2000, are starting a new restaurant, and its menu will include some of the dishes their longtime customers loved.
The restaurant will be called Asian Wok, and the sign is already up on the space it will occupy at 2929 N. Rock Road, right next door to Five Guys Burgers & Fries. The spot was previously home to Rita’s Italian Ice, which operated from March 2014 until late 2016.
The Gans said they are hoping to have the restaurant, which will offer Thai, Malaysian and Chinese fare, open sometime in February. They’re in the process now of remodeling the space.
Though they’ve long discussed their plans to retire — and many of their longtime customers thought that’s what they would do once they closed Cafe Asia — the Gans said they were offered a deal too good to pass up.
They found a partner, who prefers not to be named, who wanted to work with them on a new concept that would offer some of Cafe Asia’s old favorites but also allow the Gans to experiment with cooking techniques they discovered while traveling in the United States and in Europe. The Gans will both be in the kitchen at the new restaurant.
One of the cooking techniques they’re both excited about involves preparing food in a stainless steel wok, something popular in restaurants in New York and California, they said.
Among the new menu items they’re planning: homemade soup dumplings, papaya salad and stir fries made with lemongrass. They’re also planning a big appetizer menu that will include fried items like calamari fries.
“A lot of these are dishes people haven’t seen before,” Mike Gan said.
The couple estimates they’ll bring about half of the Cafe Asia menu over to the new place and will definitely include dishes like pepper beef and curry noodle soup. If fans don’t find their favorite dishes on the new menu, Yook Gan said, they can always ask her to make them. Sometimes, she’ll also offer old favorites as specials.
Another item they’re excited to introduce is a Spanish dessert called burnt cheesecake. They’ve been offering it at caterings, and people love it. They hope to serve it by the slice in the new restaurant, although they’re not sure about the timetable for that.
The couple says they still want to retire, but they became so excited about trying something new that they wanted to help launch the concept, which they’ve been planning for two years, before they slowed down. Once the new restaurant is established, they might finally step away — maybe in another five years, Mike Gan said.
When Asian Wok first opens, it will serve food for curbside pickup and to-go only. The dining room won’t open until the pandemic is under better control, the couple said. When it does, the dine-in space will have seven or eight tables.
Though they’re excited about their new project, closing Cafe Asia was more difficult than they expected.
They were so overwhelmed with orders during their last few days in business that they put in 18-hour work days, they said.
Walking away from the space they’d called home for so long was hard, too, Mike said, and they were both flooded with memories as they closed on the last day.
“We put in the time and everything for that one place, and we really miss it,” he said. “But we have to move on. It’s time for a new chapter.”
Their old space in Normandie Shopping Center won’t be vacant long. Neighboring restaurant Pho Le, which has been operating at 6545 E. Central for the past four years, has taken over the lease and plans to expand into the Cafe Asia space soon.
Pho Le just started offering dim sum from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays, and they need the space, owner Mike Nguyen said. He doesn’t have a timeline for when he’ll be ready to open the new dining area.
I’ll keep you posted on an opening day for Asian Wok.
This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 12:00 PM.
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