Carina Kwok's many repeat customers marvel that she knows their names when they walk through the door of Main Kwong Restaurant or when they order over the phone.
She moved to join him in New York when she was 14. She took bilingual classes, but struggled with the English language. Eventually, she worked in his restaurant. A cousin who owned a Chinese restaurant in Huntington told her father that Charleston lacked a Chinese restaurant, so he helped her open Main Kwong in its current location in 1993, nearly 20 years ago. Her sister Ling Cheng owns Main Tin restaurant in South Charleston.
"We're not fancy, but we're very clean and efficient," she said of her streamlined kitchen. "I think my father was very pleased that I went into the business, although it's a very stressful life."
She typically arrives at Main Kwong at about 9 a.m., and organizes deliveries, supervises food preparation and early deliveries. All the dishes are prepared to order, but not by her. She doesn't cook. The chaotic pace starts almost the moment the doors open at 11 a.m., as customer orders pour in, and continues through mid-afternoon. Dinner time brings a new wave of orders, deftly fielded by Kwok, who cleans up after the 10 or 11 p.m. closing. She's rarely home before midnight.
The restaurant is open seven days a week, and Kwok's smiling face is nearly always behind the counter. She's uneasy on the unusual occasions when she leaves for a daytime appointment.
"Something always happens when I'm gone," she said. "It's better just to be here."
A Buddhist, her only vacations are trips back to her homeland, where she spends her time in prayer.
Kwok's two sons, Geoffrey, 19, and Edward, 20, are away at college, but they spent most of the after-school hours of their youths in the restaurant. Kwok and her ex-husband divorced when the boys were young. Her mother lived with her and helped care for the boys.
"It was a very tough time," she said. "My parents and family supported me, or I could not have done it. Everything I did was for my boys."
Today, her oldest son studies accounting while Geoffrey's goal is medical school.
Kwok first entered the Taste of Charleston competition in 2002, where she took top honors and continued to do so every year since. Certificates of excellence from that competition and others line one wall of the restaurant. Humble about Main Kwong's documented popularity, Kwok said she is grateful for the community's support.
"The best way to show that were are thankful is to give the best service, make good food for good prices, and keep our customers happy," she said. "People are surprised that our food is not expensive."
Lunch specials, including rice and soup, all range between $5 and $6. Dinner entrees, with larger portions, are between $6 and $10, and combination platters are about $7.50.
Main Kwong, 1407 Washington St. E., is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. Call 304-342-8899.
Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Carina Kwok's many repeat customers marvel that she knows their names when they walk through the door of Main Kwong Restaurant or when they order over the phone. Caller ID helps, of course, but she also asks if they want the usual and remembers their favorites and customary substitutions.
"It's getting harder as I get older, but I usually recognize them and know what they want," said Kwok, 43. "I have a strong connection with my customers."
Her memory is especially remarkable given the high volume of Chinese food that is prepared and delivered from the modest storefront and kitchen on Washington Street East. General Tso's Chicken, Sweet & Sour Chicken and Crispy Chicken are particular favorites, but she'll have her hard-working cooks, mostly her relatives, prepare custom orders if they don't happen to appear on the broadsheet menu crammed with more than 100 dishes.
The phone rings constantly and Kwok answers in accented English, and then calls the order in Chinese into the kitchen, where the cooks bustle to do her bidding. As she takes one order, she packages another in a paper bag, layering the containers between sheets of cardboard to stabilize them for transport. Most of her business is take-out or delivery.
She hands another filled bag, marked in her cryptic style, to a customer who phoned ahead and welcomes a new customer who studies the lengthy menu. She smiles encouragingly, as he studies the menu.
She greets nearly everyone by name, even customers who have moved from Charleston, and stop by on visits.
"I like it when my customers come in. It's what I like best," she said. "There are lots of nice people in Charleston."
Local high school students, always looking for a bargain lunch, cram into the few tables in the dining room. They say they appreciate her quick service and good prices. Some students text their orders to her, so they're ready when they arrive.
"Many come back to see me after they leave home to go to college," she said. "They tell me they always want to stop at Main Kwong when they are home for the holidays."
Of course, she remembers their order.
Two delivery drivers rush in and out with carefully packaged orders for customers downtown, on the East and West sides of town, South Hills and Kanawha City. Pharmaceutical representatives pick up large orders to assure them of a welcome in the physicians' offices they visit.
Neighboring car lot salesmen, hospital workers and hotel guests walk to Main Kwong to pick up their orders or grab a seat at one of the four tables.
Kelly Johnston of Clay County stopped by during a slightly slower-paced mid-afternoon last week for her weekly fix of General Tso's. The classes she takes in Charleston give her an excuse to feed her obsession.
"She has the best Chinese food in the world. I'm kind of addicted," Johnston said. "Once you try it, you'll be a regular customer."
Kwok was born in China. Her family moved to Hong Kong when she was 10, but her father had immigrated to the United States when she was just a toddler. After working in the restaurant business, he opened his own Chinese restaurant in Connecticut.
She moved to join him in New York when she was 14. She took bilingual classes, but struggled with the English language. Eventually, she worked in his restaurant. A cousin who owned a Chinese restaurant in Huntington told her father that Charleston lacked a Chinese restaurant, so he helped her open Main Kwong in its current location in 1993, nearly 20 years ago. Her sister Ling Cheng owns Main Tin restaurant in South Charleston.
"We're not fancy, but we're very clean and efficient," she said of her streamlined kitchen. "I think my father was very pleased that I went into the business, although it's a very stressful life."
She typically arrives at Main Kwong at about 9 a.m., and organizes deliveries, supervises food preparation and early deliveries. All the dishes are prepared to order, but not by her. She doesn't cook. The chaotic pace starts almost the moment the doors open at 11 a.m., as customer orders pour in, and continues through mid-afternoon. Dinner time brings a new wave of orders, deftly fielded by Kwok, who cleans up after the 10 or 11 p.m. closing. She's rarely home before midnight.
The restaurant is open seven days a week, and Kwok's smiling face is nearly always behind the counter. She's uneasy on the unusual occasions when she leaves for a daytime appointment.
"Something always happens when I'm gone," she said. "It's better just to be here."
A Buddhist, her only vacations are trips back to her homeland, where she spends her time in prayer.
Kwok's two sons, Geoffrey, 19, and Edward, 20, are away at college, but they spent most of the after-school hours of their youths in the restaurant. Kwok and her ex-husband divorced when the boys were young. Her mother lived with her and helped care for the boys.
"It was a very tough time," she said. "My parents and family supported me, or I could not have done it. Everything I did was for my boys."
Today, her oldest son studies accounting while Geoffrey's goal is medical school.
Kwok first entered the Taste of Charleston competition in 2002, where she took top honors and continued to do so every year since. Certificates of excellence from that competition and others line one wall of the restaurant. Humble about Main Kwong's documented popularity, Kwok said she is grateful for the community's support.
"The best way to show that were are thankful is to give the best service, make good food for good prices, and keep our customers happy," she said. "People are surprised that our food is not expensive."
Lunch specials, including rice and soup, all range between $5 and $6. Dinner entrees, with larger portions, are between $6 and $10, and combination platters are about $7.50.
Main Kwong, 1407 Washington St. E., is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday to Thursday; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday. Call 304-342-8899.
Reach Julie Robinson at jul...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-1230.
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