Wok n' Hut debuts in South Elgin
A new contemporary Chinese restaurant with full bar opened this week in South Elgin.
Wok n' Hot at 464 Redington Drive is owned by Carrie Thomason of St. Charles, who is also the chef for the restaurant that offers fine but family-friendly dining.
"Everything is going excellent. Fantastic," Thomason said. "South Elgin has never seen a restaurant like this."
Wok n' Hot will seat about 124 people inside and 32 on the outdoor patio that will open this summer, possibly as early as June, Thomason said. A grand opening will likely take place in early May, she said.
"We have all fresh sauces, we don't do anything frozen," she said. "These are all my recipes."
Also, all desserts are made in-house, including ice cream. The bar offers signature cocktails like mangoritas and mangotinis, she said.
The restaurant is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday.
It will be closed on Monday, because "everybody needs a break because we've been working 100-hour days," she said.
Thomason's husband, Jim Thomason, is the general manager of the Grand Victoria Casino in Elgin.
The couple initially planned to have video gambling machines - which the casino industry has decried as eating away at revenues - in the Chinese restaurant, but scrapped that after a Daily Herald story detailed those plans.
The Thomasons owned two Chinese restaurants in Las Vegas before they left the state in 2005.
The South Elgin building used to house Manor Restaurant until it closed about three years ago.