Dallas: Three Generations of Women Behind Yang's Smokehouse in Plano
Dallas — In Plano, Collin County, Texas, Yang's Smokehouse (240 Legacy Drive, Suite 306), which opened this June, carries a family story spanning three generations of women. D Magazine profiled the Guizhou-style Chinese barbecue restaurant and its founder, Mengjie Cao, on October 20.
The story began in Guiyang in 1980, when Cao's grandmother, Lianxiu Zhang, widowed at 30, supported her family with a barbecue street cart. In the late 1990s, Zhang and her daughter Qifen Yang opened their first brick-and-mortar restaurant, adding stir-fry and hotpot. The family now runs two restaurants of its own in Guizhou and holds four franchise agreements.
Cao, the third-generation owner and chef, came to the United States for a master's degree, then worked eight years in construction design, rising to vice president, before saving enough to bring her grandmother's skewers to Plano. Her grandmother traveled to Texas and stayed for a couple of months to help launch the restaurant. The kitchen centers on open-fire charcoal grilling, with a signature family blend of Guizhou chiles and Sichuan pepper. Cao told D Magazine she wants diners to appreciate the culture, background and history of a restaurant built by three generations of women. (GSM, based on D Magazine)
(Photo: Guizhou-style skewers, file photo — not a dish from the restaurant.)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 2.0 / Mindmatrix（资料图）
