A fire closed 6th Ave Chinese restaurant more than a year ago. Will it ever reopen?

The owners of North China Garden, which has been closed since May 2023 when a kitchen fire damaged the building, have officially said goodbye to their 20-year home at 2303 6th Ave.

Reached by phone this week, Jenny Yee, who owned the Chinese restaurant with her husband Kwan Yee, said they were disappointed at the outcome.

“We’ve been in Tacoma for 20 years,” said Yee. “I really, really, really can’t wait to reopen,” albeit in a hopeful new location. “We have a lot of regulars, and I’m sure they miss us! And I miss all our customers, too.”

A fire broke out in the kitchen of North China Garden on May 26, 2023. Tacoma Fire Department investigators later determined it was likely accidental, ignited by a forgotten stove burner.

Flames and smoke destroyed the kitchen, Yee told The News Tribune at the time. They were hopeful the building would be restored and they could reopen, but eventually reached a standstill with the property owners, she said Wednesday.

Property records show Terry and Timothy Chan own the building, valued around $637,000. The News Tribune’s request for comment was not immediately returned.

A for-lease sign went into the window in late spring or early summer, according to neighbors.

While the Yees don’t own that unit, they do own the next-door property of 2309 6th Ave. as well as its tenant, Dirty Oscar’s Annex. Known for having stewarded many of the city’s prominent chefs and for specialties like a homemade hash brown, that restaurant also suffered smoke damage in the 2023 fire. It reopened last August, but the fate of North China Garden remained murky.

Operations manager for DOA Carleen Preble told The News Tribune in an email that the Chinese restaurant space remains in disrepair, nearly 15 months after the fire.

“Dirty Oscar’s is hurt without its sister next door on multiple levels, including the loss of traffic up this end of Sixth Avenue,” she said.

Yee yearns to return to serving the regulars North China amassed since opening in Central Tacoma on Jan. 2, 2004. She remembers the date clearly because it was precisely one month after her first son, now 20 and an occasional employee at the restaurant, was born.

“I miss North China Garden so much,” she said on Wednesday. “I know all my customers are wondering, ‘What’s going on?’”

They have been looking for another location, using the opportunity to find one that offers more convenient parking, she added, but it’s a Goldilocks mission.

“Some of them are way too big, some of them are way too small,” she said. “We have to find what we need.”

The couple are both in their 40s and had no intention of giving up the restaurant life just yet. They live in Seattle and entertained the idea of bringing North China there, but “all my valued customers are in Tacoma,” she said. “Just let my customers know that Jenny misses them!”

This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 5:15 AM.