The Courier-Journal News, Thursday, January 01, 2004

New Albany cook has roots in China

When Bill Li was growing up in Fuzhou, China, near Hong Kong, he recalls his father, Wing Li, growing rice and tending an orchard to support their family.

But Bill Li's most treasured memories of his father are of them cooking together in the restaurants in Hong Kong and New Albany that he and his father owned and operated.

Wing Li came to America in 1984 to make a better living for his family. He worked at restaurants in the New York area, but he yearned to have his own restaurant in a small town.

He moved to New Albany in 1992, sent for his family, and in October 1993, he opened Hong Kong Chinese Restaurant, 345 New Albany Plaza.

Soon father and son were cooking together and Wing taught Bill the restaurant business.

Wing Li died in 2000 at age 49 after sustaining an aneurysm while vacationing in China with his grandchildren.

Wing Li was a quick study and learned how a dish could and should be prepared, his son said.

And what kind of legacy did his father leave him concerning cooking?

"It was all about freshness," said Li, 30, who lives in New Albany. "He said the food must be fresh, so everything keeps looking good and tastes good.

"Sometimes he came up with an idea after looking at recipes. He had his own style. We have over 100 items on the menu."

Some of the key flavorings in his Chinese cuisine are garlic, soy sauce and ginger. "You need a lot of a heat" in preparing this food, he said.

While he no longer has his father by his side, Bill Li does has someone else: his wife, Lisa. After she came to eat at the restaurant in 1995, she and Bill became friends. The friendship eased into romance, and they married in 1997. Now they have two children - Allyson, 5, and Collin, 4 - who are cared for at the couple's home by Li's mother, Mei Ni, who lives with them.

Lisa Li, also 30, is the cashier at the restaurant, handles orders, and much more. One thing the two have in common is that relatives on both sides own restaurants.

With a restaurant that's open seven days a week, how does the couple manage meals with their children?

"Sometimes we eat here. Sometimes we take it home," Bill Li said. Sometimes his mother cooks, he said.