by Kurt Johnson

 

A familiar dining destination came back to life in Aurora Saturday, and so too did the China Garden.

Shut down since the back wall of their downtown building collapsed Feb. 25, restaurant owners Quioa Zhen Chen and her husband Wei Sum Kwok were thrilled to finally reopen the doors, albeit in a different location.

"Lots of people came in on the first day and I’m just so happy to be back in business again," Chen said. "We were without any income for a very long time so we’ve been anxious to reopen."

Locals easily found their way to the new location, since it has a long history of dining out in Aurora. The former Chuck’s Drive-In on Highway 34 which stood vacant for years has been cleaned and refurbished, getting the green light just last week from health and fire safety inspectors.

"We had to do a lot of work and put in a whole new kitchen hood and venting system," Chen noted. "The air conditioning unit is old and may have to be replaced later, but we won’t make those changes now."

The first order of business was getting back in business, which the owners did at 11 a.m. Saturday. The parking lot was near capacity much of the day, with a steady stream of traffic checking out the new locale.

"We’re not completely finished with everything, but we wanted to open as soon as possible," Chen said.

For now, that means customers can fill their own plates from the buffet, but can’t order off the menu. And, the beverage machine ordered a month ago isn’t scheduled to arrive for another week or so.

"We hope the customers understand that," Chen said. "Everything is nice for now and we’re just taking it one step at a time."

The new China Garden has an expanded seating capacity with room to host 50 people at a time. The drive-through window is still in place, though there are no plans to utilize that service.

"We really like the new location," Chen said. "It looks better and is bigger inside, plus it’s by the highway, which will be nice. It feels better to work here because the other place was just so small."

China Garden opened in Aurora back in 2004. The man-and-wife partnership has worked well, Chen said, though the new location prompted some additional staff. Chen’s aunt, Lin Fen, moved with her three children from China and Zhu Liang, another distant relative, relocated from New York City. Both have experience in the business.

"We hope to keep very busy at this new location," Chen said.

China Garden is open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. seven days a week.

 

Community support

It’s been a frustrating five months for Chen and her family, though she said she has been touched by the support received from the community in various ways.

"I want to say thank you to all the people who have helped us," she said. "Lots of people helped us move, some helped with the cleaning here, and people even brought food for my family." Someone made an anonymous contribution by donating money to help cover the electricity bill as well.

As for their former location in the Temple Craft building, Chen said she is a bit confused as to what’s happening there. She and her husband own a portion of the building, though they have not been informed about efforts to repair the structure.

"They haven’t told me anything, but they are fixing it so I don’t really know what’s going on there," she said. "Nobody is telling me how much it will cost or who is fixing it. All I know is that my insurance company is telling me they won’t pay for it."

The owners of the Temple Craft building, J&F Investments, announced in May that they plan to repair the back wall. Those efforts began in July. The entire west wall has been open to the elements for several weeks, but is scheduled to be closed in soon now that the foundation has been poured.