Chinglish Cantonese Wine Bar, the Boca Park restaurant that stylishly combined wine culture with modern Cantonese cooking, is closing Sunday. So is its sister restaurant next door, Kosher Chinglish, which offered Cantonese food through a kosher lens, an achievement every bit as impressive as the elevated Cantonese dishes served at Chinglish wine bar. Kitty and Ken Heck, and chef Po Fai Lam and Anna Lam, opened the restaurants, with chef leading the kitchens at both.
The Lams are Kitty Heck’s parents. Chinglish wine bar opened in December 2020; Kosher Chinglish opened three months earlier, in September. Ken Heck confirmed the closings in an interview with the Las Vegas Review-Journal; the restaurant also issued a statement.
Ken Heck said employees had been informed 10 days ago. “We’ve grown our business every quarter reliably, but costs are just untenable,” Ken Heck said in the interview. “It takes a high level of skill to work in our kitchen, and chefs with a high level of skill are very in demand.
With the amount of competitors, trying to hire a skilled chef, we couldn’t compete with the salaries some of the large corporations or casinos are offering.” In the statement, the Chinglish owners thanked “the many guests who have participated in our Chinglish journey and shared in our positive experiences. We are especially grateful to the fantastic staff who consistently provided top-notch hospitality.
Every person, in every role, believed in our family’s vision.
