Staff writer
Owner George Yang said he is aiming to open his restaurant, Panda Kitchen, in three weeks at his location on Grand Avenue across from Dale’s Supermarket.
Yang has already worked on the old building for three weeks, tearing out rotted ceilings and walls.
“It was all kinds of bad,” Yang said of the old ceilings in the back end of the building.
The restaurant is taking shape. An L-shaped buffet table lines the back end of the front room. Yang is planning to place 60 items on an all-you-can-eat buffet including spicy chicken, sesame chicken, and fried wantons.
Yang, 38, has been working in the restaurant business for 18 years. He moved to the U.S. from Fujian, China, 22 years ago and settled in New Orleans where he started his first restaurant.
Hurricane Katrina forced Yang and his wife, Judy Ni, to move from New Orleans to Hutchinson where Yang worked in China Star. Currently the couple own and operate another Panda Kitchen in Hesston.
“I’ve got a menu,” Yang said of the restaurant in Hillsboro. “Everything will be the same as Hesston.”
Yang said he looked at the location two years ago when a friend who works for the city of Hillsboro told him about the 2,000 to 3,000 square foot space. He did not have an opportunity to purchase the location until now.