After visiting the Trans-Mississippi Exposition in 1898, Chin Ah Gin relocated to Omaha. Gin was the son of a potato farmer who had emigrated from China before working as a potato farmer. At his father’s urging Gin moved from his native California in the 1890’s following a poor potato harvest. He first landed in Duluth where he opened his first restaurant. He moved to Omaha after that in order to enjoy its comparatively more temperate climate and to get away from the heavy snowfalls that frequently hit Minnesota.
After working as a cook he would go on to open the Mandarin Cafe in 1912. The restaurant was located on the second floor of the Budweiser Saloon at 1409 Douglas St. This was the same building that served as the headquarters to Omaha’s political boss Tom Dennison for a time. It also happened to be located in Omaha’s Chinatown which was a four square block area northeast of 12th and Dodge. The restaurant with a large “Chop Suey” sign hanging from the front of the building also served American food. Gin, on his way to becoming the patriarch of the local Chinese community frequently hired new Chinese immigrants. By 1920 he began looking for a larger space so that he could employ the large number of relatives that were moving to Omaha. He found the perfect place in a building along the bustling 16th Street corridor that was the home to Cafe Beautiful a decade earlier.
Built in 1880, the building at 315 S 16th St had been the home to the Columbus Buggy Company followed by C. W. Baker Undertaker and finally G. E. Harket Furs before Tolf Hanson bought it to open Cafe Beautiful. Tolf had owned the popular Calumet Cafe so he set his sights even higher this time around and was determined to make it the finest restaurant in town. He spared no expense and ultimately spent $175k to not only update the kitchen and to furnish the restaurant but also on extensive building modifications completed by contractor John Harte. When it was finished, the facade of the building was in a Spanish renaissance style with Flemish Gothic moldings even though much of the original brick and mortar remains under and around the building to this day.
When it was finished, Cafe Beautiful with its European cuisine, French-inspired wait service and elegant decor may have achieved Tolf’s goal with the restaurant. He even went a step further to appeal to train passengers by opening a lunch counter in the basement which was a throwback to his younger years of selling sandwiches on the street corner. Unfortunately, it didn’t get the necessary support to make it a profitable venture especially when you figure the high cost of rent in addition to the more than 100 creditors seeking payment. Perhaps a delivery man whose head was crushed by the dumbwaiter on opening night should have been taken as a warning. The immense debt resulted in Tolf traveling to New York to raise additional funds. He never returned as he passed away just one year after opening the grand restaurant in 1908. While many attributed his death to suicide, it may have been an accident. Following the closure of Cafe Beautiful, the interior of the building was completely remodeled. The basement was turned into a different cafe while Florsheim Shoe Company took over the first floor and Logan & Bryan, grain and stock brokers were on the second floor.
To furnish the new restaurant, Gin borrowed money from Omaha National Bank and traveled to Hong Kong. He brought ornate hand carved chandeliers that told a story of a Chinese opera in addition intricate woodwork, hand carved teak tables, chairs inlaid with mother-of-pearl, silk embroideries that he used to line the walls, detailed carvings along and ornate tile floors. He added the third floor where he installed enclosed booths for privacy. In total he spent $50k decorating the restaurant. He retained the Tiffany glass windows and the marble staircase that were installed by Tolf in 1908. When he opened the doors to King Fong Cafe in 1920, it was like nothing like most citizens of Omaha had ever seen. The restaurant and its extravagant interior and Cantonese cuisine proved so popular that he was able to pay the loan back in less than a year.
After Gin retired, his longtime employee, Sin Huey took over. Sin worked as an immigration translator and fought in World War II before working at King Fong in the 1930’s. After working his way up from the bottom, he began managing the restaurant in 1950. It was around this time that the restaurant’s third floor was closed and has remained that way. Like Gin, he ran the restaurant as a family restaurant for decades until he retired in 1983. Sin credited the restaurant’s longevity to providing good food at reasonable prices in nice surroundings. While he said he wouldn’t dare change the decor because there was no way to improve it, the menu must change as its customers’ tastes change. After he retired other members of the family took over and kept it going. In 2007 Omaha-born director Alexander Payne and others bought the building for $305k with the intention to keep it exactly the way it is. King Fong closed in 2016 for renovations with the intent of reopening a few months later. That never happened and the restaurant remains closed to this day.
While Omaha’s Chinatown has long since disappeared, King Fong is one of the few links that remain of the city’s early Chinese community. Even though it has been closed for eight years, both the building and the restaurant look nearly identical to the way it did when Gin first opened its doors over 100 years ago. Meanwhile, the building’s famous owner remains committed to having a Chinese restaurant operate from this building. Until then he seems content to sit back and wait for the right person to come along and continue the tradition that Gin started.
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