Chino's Kitchen to open next month in former Pizza Hut building

WORTHINGTON — When the former Pizza Hut restaurant on North Humiston Avenue suddenly took on a new outside color combination of sunflower gold and black a week ago, people took notice and the buzz began about what was moving into the building that has stood vacant for nearly three years.

The answer is Chino’s Kitchen, to be operated by Worthington High School and Minnesota West graduate Sean Naing. When it opens sometime in September, it will offer a multitude of ethnic cuisine, from pad Thai to sticky rice, orange chicken, beef and pork dishes, bubble tea and also American staples on the kids menu.

“Our menu is mainly Thai food,” shared Naing on Saturday morning. “We want to bring food that people mainly know. We will have American food, too, for the new generation — the kids meal. The kids don’t like to eat their own cuisine, more like burgers and pizza.

“I want to have a little bit of everything for our customers — for our community.”

The name, Chino’s Kitchen, hearkens from Naing’s years spent in the JBS cafeteria, where he started by doing dishes and quickly moved to the cash register. After three months, he became the night shift supervisor in the cafeteria, where he cooked and served and did many of the tasks in the kitchen.

A year later, when the cafeteria changed to a new company, Naing was named its general manager.

“A lot of people know me as Chino — coworkers, friends, especially JBS customers,” he said. “They know I’m Asian, so they called me Chino. I’m not Chinese though, I’m Thai.”

With name recognition as Chino, he said it only made sense to call his restaurant Chino’s Kitchen.

“It’s my kitchen,” he said with a grin. “Chino is a Spanish word for Asian or Chinese, but Kitchen is an American word.”

Naing said he’s always enjoyed cooking, whether at work or at home.

“I cook for everybody,” he said, adding that the longer he worked in the JBS cafeteria, the more he wished that he could have his own restaurant some day.

Naing was still in college at Minnesota West when he began working at JBS. He went on to earn a degree in business, and that education will be useful as he begins Chino’s Kitchen.

He intends to source a lot of the ingredients for his Thai dishes locally.

“We have five or six Asian grocery stores here that I can get (items from),” he said. “We want to have original recipes from the country because that’s how everybody knows how it tastes.

“We want to have food … for people to come and know it tastes like Thai food.”

Naing is leasing the building, and the building's owner also owns the Caribou Cabin in the same lot. The two businesses will share parking, and if more parking is needed, Naing said he will talk to neighboring businesses about renting some parking spaces.

“The city said the more parking (you need), the better,” he added, noting that there are a total of 15 parking spaces in the shared lot with Caribou.

Naing would ultimately like to purchase the building as his restaurant excels.

An opening date in September has not yet been set. Naing is installing new kitchen equipment and a new counter, and updating the restroom to bring it up to code.

“We are redesigning the kitchen,” he said, adding that he’s also purchased new furniture. “All of the equipment is here; it just needs to be installed.”

Once operational, the restaurant will be open daily from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Naing said he has several friends and family members hired to work at the restaurant, and he looks forward to serving the community.

“I think Worthington is diverse, but we need more restaurants — more places to go out and eat and have some fun,” he said. “That’s what I’m bringing to my hometown.

“I love this town and I want to bring good things to the community,” he added. “My talent, I want to take it out for our customers.”

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Chino's Kitchen to open next month in former Pizza Hut building