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NEWS
After nearly 40 years, Ming's says good-bye
Ming and Lisa Eng with their son Ben say goodbye to their loyal customers after Ming's Restaurant closed Nov. 14, following more than 40 years in Huntington.
HUNTINGTON -- Ming and Lisa Eng knew their restaurant was popular. But when word leaked that they were closing, they found out how truly appreciated their establishment was.
Ming's Restaurant closed Nov. 14 after nearly 40 years in Huntington. Most was spent in downtown, while the last 11 were next to the Stone Lodge on U.S. 60.
They finally put word that the restaurant was closing on the outdoor sign, drawing crowds so large during the last three days that they ran out of food and had to turn people away. Even former Marshall University football coach Bobby Pruett couldn't get a table.
"Dad didn't get to say good-bye to a lot of people," said Ben Eng, who grew up helping his parents at the restaurant.
Turning people away bothers Lisa Eng the most. She teared up talking about all the people who became more than customers. She called them friends and said she was saddened to have to turn friends away.
"The customers are our family," she said. "We just want to say thanks to all the loyal customers. We really, really appreciate it."
Ming Eng, who is about 70 years old -- he was born in Canton, China, but he's unsure of his actual birth date -- made his way to Hong Kong and then to Canada when he was barely a teenager. He and his cousins worked as waiters and busboys, which built the foundation for what he would spend his life doing.
Within 10 years, he was the head chef at a Toronto restaurant. And it was there that Herold Frankel, owner of the Mikki Club in Huntington, found him. Ming Eng said it took some prodding, but he eventually accepted Frankel's offer to come to Huntington in 1969.
That's when Huntington attorney Richard Tyson stepped in, helping Ming Eng with his immigration status, said David Tyson, son of Richard and now the Eng's attorney and close family friend. The whole family became so close that Richard Tyson was asked to be Ben Eng's godfather 31 years ago.
"He's the dean of the Chinese restaurant," David Tyson said, adding that he helped bus tables Friday night after enjoying his final meal at Ming's.
Ming Eng said he'll miss cooking steaks and Moo Goo Beef, but he said he's ready for a break.
"I'm ready now," he said. "I'll try to go fishing and relax."
His son said Dad has earned it.
"My mother and him put in 15 hours a day for 40 years, without a vacation," Ben Eng said. "They are going to visit my sister, Alice, in Jacksonville (Fla.). It'll be dad's first vacation. These are not exaggerations."
The crowds were not an exaggeration either. People waited an hour for a table and an hour to eat, but Ben Eng said no one complained. It's as if they didn't care if they got something to eat or not; rather, they just wanted to be able to visit friends one last time.
"It's a big-time loss," David Tyson said. "We're talking about generations (of customers)."
