Ming’s Chinese Restaurant Closed Temporarily

On December 28, 2014, Ming’s Chinese Cuisine and Bar served it’s last chicken salad, Peking Duck, and dim sum. A Palo Alto institution, Ming’s first opened its doors in 1956 across from Stanford University. In 1968, it relocated to its Embarcadero baylands location, where it served hungry customers for 46 years.

The Palo Alto City Council finalized plans for a mixed-use development to be constructed where the 15,180 square foot restaurant now sits. The project was initially kick-started in 2010 but has taken four years to cut through the inevitable red tape and obtain the needed financial backing.

Taking its place will be a four-story Staybridge Suites Hotel that will include a more intimately sized Ming’s restaurant (a mere 5,600 square feet, far less than the previous space that could comfortably seat 500). The project will take eighteen months to two years to complete and will positively impact the city’s annual tax revenue, infusing well over $500,000 in assessments each year into the city’s coffers.

Ming’s was an offshoot of San Francisco’s Chinese American restaurateur, Johnny Kan’s namesake eatery in Chinatown. Opening in 1953, Kan’s was bestowed the Holiday Magazine’s award for fine dining fourteen years running and was frequently found on top ten lists of San Francisco’s best places to eat. Kan’s employed an open kitchen plan that allowed diners to watch food preparation, a concept that gained in popularity in the 1980’s. Many of the rich and famous could be seen enjoying Kan’s Cantonese cuisine, their appearances immortalized in writing by renowned journalist Herb Caen. Kan’s is also attributed with an innovative, revolving tabletop reminiscent of the Lazy Susan as well as inventing the concept of home food delivery.

With the overwhelming popularity of Kan’s Restaurant, Johnny Kan and his partners opened Ming’s in Palo Alto, which they owned until it was purchase in 1991 by owner-developer Vicky Ching.

“We are excited about the changes and the bright future ahead. The closing of the current Ming’s is bittersweet. We are grateful to our loyal customers and community partners for their support and we look forward to celebrating with them at the opening of our next venture,” stated Ching in response to the closure of Ming’s in December.

For those loyal customers who made visits to Ming’s on a regular basis, their patience will be rewarded with its infamous Peking Duck and dim sum in late 2016.