Celebrity Chef Katie Chin, daughter of restauranteur Leeann Chin, shares what’s for lunch

JACOB ALOI: Well, it's reaching lunchtime here for many Minnesotans. And so we're going to do a classic Minnesota Now segment called "What's for Lunch?" A favorite local stop for some is Leeann Chin. The Midwest Chinese chain serving up dishes from peking chicken to cream cheese wontons-- more on that later. And the restaurant is, of course, Minnesota homegrown and named after chef and restaurateur Leeann Chin.

Well, her story is now being told in a one-woman play written and performed by her daughter, celebrity chef and food writer Katie Chin, who joins us now. Welcome, Katie.

KATIE CHIN: Thank you so much for having me, Jacob.

JACOB ALOI: It's wonderful to connect with you. So we met about a year ago when I attended a staged reading of your one-woman show, Holy Shiitake-- a Wok Star is Born, which was developed by local theater company Theater Mu that tells stories from the Asian and Asian-American community. And when I saw it, it was a story about your mother's rise to being a household name, but also your intimate relationship with her and the rest of your family. So could you just tell us a little bit about what the show is?

KATIE CHIN: Absolutely. It is a love letter to my late mother, Leeann Chin, who is a household name. Not many people know her origin story and how the restaurant chain came to be. And I feel like it's such an inspiring story because my mother emigrated from China in 1956 to Minneapolis making $0.50 an hour as a seamstress.

And she became a caterer through the support and encouragement of some of her sewing clients. And one thing led to another, and she actually was able to convince Sean Connery, who was in town visiting Robert Redford, who was directing the film Ordinary People, to invest in her first restaurant. It's a wacky, crazy story.

And from there, she opened more and more restaurants. And then by the mid-1980s, she had opened 40 restaurants, and General Mills bought her company, made her president of the division. But she had never even gone to high school.

JACOB ALOI: Wow.

KATIE CHIN: She ended up buying it back. So she was truly a remarkable, inspiring woman, but also a huge supporter of the community. She sat on several boards. She had a foundation. She even threw a fundraising concert with Prince.

She didn't know who he was. And she came home, and she was a huge fan, and she was like, that Prince, he can really play the guitar. So she was just completely generous and talented soul.

So the show really takes us on a journey of her rise to greatness-- but not only that, what it was like for us to be fish out of water Chinese-Americans in Minnesota in the 1970s belonging to the sons of Norway, because we didn't have our own clubs. We were the only Chinese family at Washburn at the time.

So it was a very confusing time for us. So I actually grew up with a lot of cultural shame and was embarrassed to be Chinese. And I assimilated so well as I became an adult, I actually ended up moving to Los Angeles and working in the entertainment industry for 14 years doing film and TV marketing.

And just the whole thought of cooking, I just had PTSD of looking at my mom's tiny catering business as a child when everybody else was at Lake Harriet or at the mall. I was stuck down there frying chicken pieces. So to make a long story short, I one day had forgotten how to cook.

I kept calling my mom and asking her questions. And she got on a plane with frozen lemon chicken. She cooked the entire meal. And she let everyone think that I had cooked it, but was completely mortified that I had forgotten how to cook.

And so she set out to teach me how to cook again. So she and I came together through a series of dinner parties, and I ended up quitting my job as a senior VP at Fox and leaving my then-husband to join forces with my mom. And through that experience, she really opened up about her life in China.

She shared all sorts of stories that she had never talked about before. And that's a big part of the play as well, because it's really through love of food that we found friendship and I found my purpose in life.

JACOB ALOI: As you mentioned, your mother passed over a decade ago. But I'm curious what you think she would think about this play that is really a love letter to your relationship and her story of triumph.

KATIE CHIN: It's so interesting, because somebody just asked me if she were alive, what she would think about it. And I think that she would be delighted for people to know what she actually endured to get to where she was, because she was such a humble person. And she was not somebody that's going to-- this is very common in Chinese-American families-- you don't burden your children with your hardships.

You don't complain. You just keep moving forward. You just become a queen of efficiency and just never look back. And I feel like if she had the opportunity for people to really know what happened, I think she would know that that would inspire other people to change, and to ask for help, and to seek mental health services.

Because there's some heavy stuff in my play, which I won't delve into right now. But we do know that mental illness runs rampant in the Asian-American community. And also, my director made me, before my last show, ask my mother for her permission, even though she's not with us now, and ask my ancestors for permission.

JACOB ALOI: You said you're based in California now. And you actually have some performances of Wok Star coming up. And of course, it is AAPI Heritage Month. Tell us a little bit about these upcoming performances. And folks, if they're in California or going to California soon, where they might be able to see them.

KATIE CHIN: Thanks so much. Yes, I have three performances coming up in May in celebration of AAPI month. One is on May 9. One is on May 16. One is on May 25 all at the Whitefire Theater in Sherman Oaks.

I happen to co-chair mayor Karen Bass' AAPI LA task force. So very important for me to give back to the community-- so they are all fundraisers for different AAP nonprofits in Los Angeles-- a portion of proceeds going to all of these organizations. So come on down. It's a great show. You'll laugh. You'll cry.

JACOB ALOI: Wow.

KATIE CHIN: And there may or may not be dumplings served after the shows.

JACOB ALOI: Well, speaking of food, OK, so when I said that we were going to be talking to you to the production team, they brought up that there's this popular theory that's been kicking around Minnesota for a while that your mom invented, or at least popularized, cream cheese wontons. And I'm wondering if you could illuminate us on this culinary mystery.

KATIE CHIN: Ha ha. Well, I know it's been an urban legend for quite some time. There was an article in City Pages I think about 10 years ago that, in fact, verified that my mother was the inventor of cream cheese puffs. What I will say is this-- when she started her first restaurant in Bonaventure, some of you may have actually been there-- and if you were, I checked your coat.

But it was so busy. It was completely insane. And she did have crab rangoon on the menu. Now, crab rangoon is basically a cream cheese wonton with crab. Now, one day, she did not receive the shipment from the restaurant supply company, and she was just like-- and if you know anything about the beginning days, there were lines around the block.

If you had a reservation, you still had to wait 90 minutes to get your table. It was crazy. And it was just a very actually elegant, upscale, sit-down restaurant at the time. Anyway, she was just like, forget it.

I was going to say "screw it," but my mother would never say that. She was thinking "screw it," but I think she was just like, just forget it. We're just going to put them out. And add garlic salt, more garlic salt, and nobody seemed to notice or care that the crab was gone.

JACOB ALOI: Wow. Well, that's--

KATIE CHIN: Right.

JACOB ALOI: That's incredible. Way to think on your feet as a chef. That's incredible. Well, we're coming up on about our last minute to talk with you. I wish we had more time. But whenever we have a chef on, and we're very grateful to have you for the time that we do, we like to ask, what's for lunch?

I know in Minnesota, it's time for lunch. In California, maybe if you're an early riser, it's time for lunch. But what's on the plate today? What are you thinking about making for lunch today?

KATIE CHIN: I'm planning to make some Thai chicken lettuce cups, because I actually teach a lot of dumpling classes virtually. And I have a lot of the filling leftover. So I like to just sautee that filling, maybe, with some extra ginger and garlic, add some shallots, maybe some oyster sauce, and then I'll just eat that in a lettuce wrap, because I was traveling and indulged quite a bit. So just going to stick with the lettuce wraps for a few days.

JACOB ALOI: That sounds great. Well, I know that I'm probably going to go get Leann Chin for lunch after having this conversation. Thank you so much, Katie, for joining us today on Minnesota Now.

KATIE CHIN: Thank you, Jacob.

JACOB ALOI: That was Katie Chin, food writer, chef, and playwright of Holy Shiitake-- a Wok Star is Born. You can find her social media profiles and where to get her cookbooks at ChefKatieChin.com.