Meet Your Merchant: Yang's Kitchen is a family affair

When Xiao Liang Yang was able to finally bring his family to Nevada from Fuzhou, China, four years ago, after more than a decade apart, he wanted to do more than rely on his salary as head chef to support them.

"If you're a chef, you just get a salary and you do (your job)," Yang said through a translator. "If I have a business, when I'm (too old to cook), then I can hire people" and keep working.

About five months ago, Yang met his goal of small-business ownership by opening Yang's Kitchen at 111 E. Telegraph St., Carson City. It specializes in authentic Chinese food, as opposed to the Americanized fare found at other diners, Yang said.

It also gives his family work, with his son in the back and daughter working the front counter.

Yang, 54, has been cooking professionally for more than 20 years and has lived in the region since 1993, working at restaurants at Lake Tahoe and Reno, including spending 13 years as the head chef at the Chinese Duck House in Reno. Before that, he would help cook the wedding feasts at his hometown across the ocean before he headed here to find a better life.

All that experience paid off for customer Michael Robbins. Robbins, owner of nearby Hanifin's Antiques, said he eats there about three times a week and lauded the quality of food and its price. (His particular favorite is the Curry Chicken.)

"It's really quick, fresh and wholesome," Robbins said, adding jokingly that, with its prices, "It's kind of suited to the times because everyone's broke."

He also noted the authenticity of the place - he remembers seeing groups of 10 or more Chinese immigrants huddled around a table and enjoying a taste of home.

But for Yang, as much as he prides himself on his kitchen craft, he needs to only look at his family to be reminded why he is really doing this.

"My only thought (when I opened) was that I can be able to work and take care of my family," he said.