Chinese Food
Upscale Chinese restaurant from ex-Kirin Court team opens in Plano
A new upscale Chinese restaurant from a familiar name in the industry is coming to Plano. Called La Chine, it'll open at 6145 Windhaven Pkwy., west of the Dallas North Tollway, in what was previously a short-lived Italian restaurant called Uncle Gino's.
The ownership would be familiar to anyone who follows fancy Chinese restaurants in Dallas: Anson Chan, whose restaurateur experience dates back to the 1980s with eateries that include Yoli's Seafood and Grill, Plano Cafe, Ocean Grill, and most notably Kirin Court, which he sold.
Chan's most recent project was Mah Jong, a highly-rated restaurant on Preston Road in Plano he helped his wife Fannie Law open and manage.
After selling Mah Jong, a location and backers for La Chine came together, and he decided to dip his toe back in. They're aiming to have La Chine open soon, hopefully by the end of August.
"The best place to open a restaurant right now is Plano," Chan says. "The economy is good, and the residents fit into the demographic we serve."
His demographic is not the young diner in search of a bargain but instead an established customer wanting a sit-down dinner in a nice room with maybe a beer or a glass of wine.
"What we're doing is basically a liberated Chinese menu," he says. "We have the basics plus creative twists where we weave East and West together. We also concentrate on presentation and service, that's not something every Chinese restaurant does. We don't cater specifically to Asian customers, we also cater to Caucasian diners, too."
They'll reprise some of the Cantonese and Sichuan dishes they've done in restaurants past such as chicken lettuce wraps, dumplings, and dim sum.
"We have our signature dishes and we'll add a few more," Chan says.
The name La Chine is carefully chosen to sum up what the restaurant is about. "It's the French word for China, and we hope it conveys the elegance we want to achieve," he says.
