It’s no secret Lampasas residents have grown fond of the Mei Yuan food truck located in the Marketplace at Sulphur Creek. Now, they will have a place to sit inside and enjoy their food. With the help of Lampasas business owner Aaron Sanders, chef Quan Wong is ready to complete his comeback and open a full-scale Mei Yuan Chinese restaurant.
“You wake up one day, and you lose everything. It’s kind of sad,” Wong said of his earlier experience opening an eatery in Lampasas. “Luckily, the community -- Aaron, Sandy [Irvin], ex-waitresses and customers -- all support me. Everyone pitches in and pays a small part of my life. I want to give a big thank you. I don’t forget where I come from.”
Nearly a year ago, Wong and area investors brought his culinary expertise to Lampasas from Burnet. The outcome wasn’t as expected, however. Just a month after opening, those investors decided to go in a different direction, leaving Wong without a place to work or a roof over his head.
After the split from his former restaurant, character accusations were directed at Wong, but he refused to show face and remained steady.
“People say, ‘Why don’t you fight back, stand up for yourself.’ What good is that going to do? It is just going to make it worse,” Wong said. “My actions prove harder than anything.”
Luckily, Wong had a supporter in Sanders, who had been devouring Wong’s Chinese food creations for some time.
“I used to eat at his restaurant in Burnet all the time when he was over there, and I loved his food,” Sanders said. “When he closed down over there, I was disappointed I didn’t have my favorite place to eat.”
Sanders said he discovered on Facebook that Wong’s restaurant partners in Lampasas had decided to part ways with him and that a GoFundMe account had been set up to assist Wong. After donating, Sanders felt he needed to do more.
“I knew he was a nice guy and knew he was being done wrong, and I didn’t like seeing that,” Sanders said. “I had the money to buy a food truck and thought, ‘It's just sitting in my bank account; why not do something good.’ ” Wong said he is eternally grateful for the gift of a lifetime.
“I barely know him; that means a lot to me,” he said of Sanders. “Sometimes, family won’t even do that for you.”
The Mei Yuan food truck launched last June and soon became a popular spot for Lampasas County residents. Sanders said he and Wong formed a tight-knit relationship when Sanders would assist Wong in moving the food truck to various locations across Goldthwaite, San Saba, Lometa and Briggs.
Wong’s food has become popular not only among local residents and those in neighboring communities, but also across the Red River.
“He has a customer that comes once a week from Oklahoma to eat his food,” Sanders said. “I’m sure they have other reasons to be in Texas, but they always stop – she’s 102 years old. [Wong] has a crazy following.”
Even Wong can hardly fathom the attention his food truck has garnered.
“Last week, I got two back-to-back days that were traveling, and they asked me, ‘You know what the crazy thing is?’ I said, ‘What is it?’ They say, ‘We go to get some gas and look for some place to eat, and we expect a restaurant, and they say go to the food truck,’ ” Wong said with a laugh.
Working in a food truck during the hot Texas summers became a new grueling experience over time.
“Oh man, it was hell -- 110 degrees outside, it feels like 130 degrees in there [inside the food truck],” Wong said.
After seeing Wong carry his weight through the Texas heat, Sanders knew a food truck wasn’t the full-time solution.
“This last summer was brutal,” Sanders said. “It was so hot, and the air-conditioner in there wouldn’t keep up. It was just miserably hot. I was like, ‘Man, you are not going to survive another summer; we need to get you in a restaurant before winter is over.’ ” Along came another supporter of the Mei Yuan food truck to offer assistance. Sandy Irvin, owner of the Marketplace at Sulphur Creek, has given Wong a home for his mobile cuisine at her shopping center. Then when Alamo Coffee relocated to Key Avenue earlier this year, the perfect opportunity opened for Sanders and Wong to make the Mei Yuan restaurant a reality once again.
Sanders and Wong received the keys to the new brickand- mortar site earlier this year and have been using the space for food prep as construction continues to turn the coffee shop into a Chinese restaurant.
Wong is excited to get started on his second chance in Lampasas.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I wake up at 5 a.m. and run up here – it’s like my last effort.
“I’ve been playing around all my life. Everything is for my children, and every time is empty promise, empty promise,” Wong said. “This time, I feel like it is going to be it, and that’s why I’m so excited. I finally found somebody who really wants to help me. This is it.”
Mei Yuan will continue to offer all its authentic Chinese dishes, along with some new “fusion” items that include brisket eggrolls and Rangoon poppers. More unique offerings could be on the horizon.
“Eventually, we would like to introduce a seafood night or a steak night – something that is not traditional Chinese but something Lampasas doesn’t have right now,” Sanders said.
Wong said he will never forget the customers who have supported him over the last 10 months, and he is ready to serve them at the new Mei Yuan.
“A lot of people Go-funded for me to help me, and I find out who they are and try to give them free food, and they don’t accept it,” Wong said. “That is the priceless love that they give me that I can never repay. Money, borrow and I can pay back, but this love I owe them forever.”
