Longtime Tempe restaurateur moves to Phoenix

By Chris McLennan     Ask Margarita Truong about any regrets she has and she’ll tell you about the time she sold her restaurant in Tempe and cried for three days. She’ll tell you about the families and people who used to come in and have dinner at the China Delight restaurant on Broadway and McClintock.  At the same location since 1991, it was a local staple for fine Chinese dining. Truong knew the names and faces of nearly everyone who went in there, like the dating couple who became the married couple and, eventually, the family with kids. After 13 years in the same location, it was easy to get to know the regulars.   “I watched   people grow from simple courting couples to full-fledged families and they would come into the China Delight regularly,” Truong says. “I watched their children grow from babies to teens and when I sold the restaurant, I cried for three days straight. It felt as though I was leaving a part of me behind.” In a sense she was.  After a year off to decide what she wanted to do next, Truong bought a business in the Chinese Cultural center in Phoenix and opened a restaurant,  Lao Ching Hing. Truong’s new eatery specializes in Shanghai cuisine that is similar to the Chinese restaurants of New York that were located near the harbor and sold the freshest fish dishes in the city.  Truong’s menu includes appetizers, soups, poultry, pork, beef and seafood dishes. Many of the fresh fish dishes are steamed, making them healthy as well as delicious. The location inside the Chinese Cultural center is next to the Ranch Market amid a slew of Asian retailers. The restaurant is spacious, beautifully decorated and holds approximately 110 diners.  In addition to sit-down fine dining, Lao Ching Hing has facilities for private and corporate parties and offers private catering and banquet services. Before entering the restaurant business, Truong was a schoolteacher in the Tempe School district, teaching English as a second language. Being community minded, Truong is very active in the Dragon Lions Club, an affiliate of the Lions Club, for which she currently serves as president. Some days find her collecting used glasses for donations and on other days she is traveling with equipment to senior centers offering free eye exams and referrals to eye doctors. Lao Ching Hing restaurant is located at 668 44th Street inside the Chinese Cultural center.  The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. seven days a week.  Truong would love to see her former Tempe customers again at Lao Ching Hing and invites them to stop by to say hello, have a meal, and catch up. For more information, call 602-286-6168.

 

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