Chef Shangri-la is known for its iconic tiki decor and its litany of live performers who perform on the restaurant floor each week, many of them celebrity impersonators. This month, it celebrates the 50th anniversary of when Paul and Suzie Fong, the original owners, opened its doors in July 1976.
Over the weekend, the restaurant, 7930 W. 26th St., hosted Fong Fest, with a litany of live music performers playing from noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday, July 26.
Dr. Lisa Abrams, whose husband, Irv Abrams, took over day-to-day operation of Chef Shangri-la following her mother Suzie Fong’s death in August 2019, said her parents established several other restaurants before founding their magnum opus in North Riverside.
“I was raised wherever the restaurant was. I was brought up in Milwaukee, and Elgin for maybe a year. The sole reason my parents moved was, there were no Asians then. We were in a generation where I was the only Asian kid in my school,” she told the Landmark. “When we finally moved here, I had a lot of cultural exposure of my own. That’s the main reason we moved to Chicago.”
Abrams attended the grand opening in her prom dress, she previously said, and then saw the work of running the restaurant from all angles.
“I worked like a dog here. I was the hostess. I had to be a bartender before I was ready to be a bartender. At that time, in my generation, it was OK to drink at 18. I was 18 and thrown in the bar,” she said. “It was a lot of hassles, but it was fun. I learned to do, like I said, the hosting, opening, closing, waitressing, bartending. The only thing I’ve never done is cook.”
Over the years, Abrams said she had many fond memories of family gatherings hosted inside the restaurant, especially around Christmastime. With her own birthday falling on Dec. 24, “Everyone was forced to come, basically. They had no excuse,” she said.
“Generally, my mom [cooked]. The food was always so, so good, because we did a traditional Chinese menu. The whole roast pig, poached chicken, roast duck or Peking duck, you might call it, and all the fresh vegetables. My sister’s favorite was her Cantonese-style chow mein,” Abrams said.
She said her own favorite dish that her mom taught her is sweet, stew-like beef tomato with eggs.
“It’s traditional Chinese, and we do serve it here, but nobody knows about it unless you ask for it,” she said. “At least several times a year, I’ll cook it for the family at home.”
Abrams said business was booming when the restaurant opened, with people willing to wait an hour or two at the bar for a seat in the dining room, though the restaurant began to decline around 10 to 15 years ago, when the introduction of its live entertainers — with impersonators of all sorts, from Elvis Presley and Tina Turner to Elton John and Whitney Houston, as well as drag queens and live musical acts — brought it back to life.
“It’s so much fun. We don’t have a stage, but this is pretty much where they perform, right here, so there’s room for them to dance around,” she said. “The customers really enjoy that. They get to eat and entertain and drink, and they’re all having a good time.”
In the seven years that Irv Abrams has been running Chef Shangri-la, he said one big challenge reared its head immediately: communicating with his staff.
“I don’t speak Chinese,” he said.
He said Suzie Fong, who ran the restaurant until her death, was a strict boss, and the restaurant experienced a lot of turnover among the waitstaff. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, he said, some of the former waitresses who had turned to the hotel industry found themselves out of work.
“They all came back, and they’re staying. They don’t want to go back, and I think that speaks for itself,” he said. “There are days we all get mad at each other, but … I think everyone here is like a family. Some of the waitresses that have been here for 30, 35 years continue to be here.”
He said Annie Zhen, a leader among the waitresses, has been instrumental in allowing him to communicate with the staff at large.
Both Lisa and Irv Abrams said they’re proud to carry on her parents’ legacy as the restaurant celebrates its golden jubilee.
“It’s funny. We’ve been here 50 years, and how many people come by and [say] ‘Oh, we’ve never been here,’ and I’m like, ‘Where do you live?’ and they’re like, ‘North Riverside!’” Irv Abrams said. “We want to continue to grow it, that’s all. We have fun and enjoy it.”
