Acclaimed chef Lona Luo brings Lona’s Lil Eats to Kirkwood — and honors her Chinese roots

This is St. Louis on the air from St. Louis Public Radio. I'm Elaine Cha. Two days ago, a critically acclaimed restaurant in Fox Park, alone as little eats, an Asian fusion spot beloved for its house-made dumplings and giant rice paper wraps. quietly opened a second location in Kirkwood. This is radio, so you didn't see me putting air quotes around quietly. But I put them there because fans of chef owner Lona Lowe's culinary creations have been unabashedly noisy with excitement over news of this new outpost in St. Louis County. The journey to this now-to restaurant concept in St. Louis goes back many years. It stretches across, back and forth over thousands of miles. It includes three James Beard semi-finalist honors. And it's been driven by the belief that people need, want, and deserve food that is good and good for them. We're in luck because she's here to do just that. Lona, thank you for joining us today and congratulations. Thank you for having me here. So thank you everything. So you've been all over town, I think the past week or so, talking about this new Kirkwood location. How do you feel? Feels really exciting. And also I'm really happy to pass up a Kirkwood and the community is such amazing people. And also to be there, including all of my crews, have some Kirkwood employees there. Everybody is so amazing and the location is great. And then like I just tell them, when you get in their location, you feel like you're driving a four-wheel driving car. And then you feel so really confident and it feels so comfortable. You say four-wheel drive? Yes. Why is that? Well, when you're driving four-wheel drive, right? In the snow, it's that you feel like a four-wheel-wheel-it's just a calm down to like a very saddling that feeling. It's a confident. Okay. Like you're kind of sticking to the road. Yes. When you first began making and selling your food from a food stall at the Sulard Farmer's Market, this was back in 2008. Did you imagine opening? A second restaurant? What in that time? I never really... picture or imagination about like any restaurant, I was just thinking, I want to make a little money into supporting my daughter's family, have a food. So like that's a kind of a goal for it. And never really picture about how I can do like a second location or first location, which is I'm very grateful about like all of my career and my like all of the community and the people, friends, family. I'm really thankful every day.

The food at Lorna's Lil Eats is Asian fusion and your personal history. and background is kind of Asian fusion too, right? It is an Asian fusion. Also, I'm a growth of the border of Launa, Burma. It's the southwest of China. It's like a minority area. So the self is supporting like a little tribal people. And we don't have a market. We don't have much of it anything. Grocery. We grow everything. We produce everything. Like a raising animal, like a growing rice, a growing. corn, grain, all the fruit is supporting ourselves. Yeah, continue. How many people lived in your village? Well, back a day, when I was younger and probably about like a couple hundred people, now it's like a more, like a population reduces probably to 50 people in a village. There are a lot of young people grew up and moved out and older people, some of a... which is making me sad. Some of her passed away, some of it's still alive, but it's young people. It's like a young generation doesn't really like a bore in that meaning, which is kind of making me sad about that. Right. Yeah. And that is true in many places, more rural areas are losing population. Population, yes. It is. It's a kind of a definitely not really... confident to talk about it, but I would definitely lose the population. And also it's like a very hard, like a tribal place. A lot of young generation when they grow up, but they just want to go out like me, just a witches. So is that part of the reason it is important to you to share some of those traditions and things, you know, the styles of cooking with people? So that is not lost? So, yeah, it's like a, you know, food culture is really always very important for people like you eating food, you associate, you're healthy. And so I'm thinking also it's a positive give me like an opportunity to living anywhere ago and supporting family and supporting who's needed this job. So like that's a part of my reason. And definitely it's a very important. And for me to continue to the how we're cooking very like a traditional cook and how food tend to without MSG, without a lot of sugar, without we're cooking everything fresh. So it's really important for show young generations like a whole food. coming from and like how important food it is. That's why I was one of parts of it. And I also, when people tell me they're happy, their body told them, so sad than them, they're really healthy. The food is a clean and a healthy feeling. Their body taught themselves. And that's kind of making me changing. Like this is, if I make people put in a smile in their face, that's a, that's a...

That's what matter. And to me, it's like, yeah, it is hard work. Every day, it's like hard to live in a restaurant, definitely. But I have an amazing crew there, and every day I'm so proud of them. Even just, it couldn't be, by myself, I couldn't be done myself. And it's a whole crew, so I'm so proud of them. So, grateful. Among the... the items that are on the menu at Lona's Little Eats, is there one that you can say represents the way that you grew up and the way that your team helps you make this food? Well, so which is our signature food is a giant rice paper wrap, and that's kind of a developer when I was a very little girl. called Fire Festival, I cook and make it with my mom all day long, just for that special meal because we made everything by hands. In this day, you can make a recipe in the machine, which is a big difference. But this is like a, you wrap the food and you can hold it a hand, so we go to the field, go to the rest field, like a corn field, to work and hard work and outside. And we always have the inner hands. eating easy to start a continuum. walking. That's what I kind of, I brought up and then in the state, people say, gluten-free, that's the one way to go. So that's why I think about when I was young, how I eat, then I brought up and developed and putting sauce together and making everything. So like it turned to like our signature food here. But except the giant recipe rabbit, we have a lot of options to choice. Everybody go, you can choice your level, what kind of food you like. like it, sweet and non-sweet, and medium sweet. That's all kind of spicy and non-spicy in there. One of the other places where you lived was in Kunming. Kaming, yes. And you worked for almost a decade in a Japanese restaurant. Yes. Did that in any way influence how you make, you know, one of the other very popular things you make, which is your dumplings? Dumplains. It's a, it's a not... It's another really very connecting Japanese food, but I know how to make a Japanese food. I just like to bring my own signature. I think it's important to do not have to be competed with anyone. This is my...

particular in nature food. And also I was working in Japanese restaurant. I love a Japanese language. I love, for my personal, I really love learning, and culture. So it's one way to learn people's culture is to learn people's language. That's why I try to be like with the parts of getting the parts of culture. We're talking today with three-time James Beard semi-finalist, chef Lona Luo. She opened a Kirkwood location of her restaurant, Lona's Little Eats, on Monday. So something that I understand is that, you know, you talked about the hard work that goes into cooking. It is worth it. But you didn't like it when you were young, you know, 12 or 13. No, actually, when I was a... Pretty younger, like an intervention school, like a first grader. My mom always putting me in the work, like cooking. Right, right. So that's, I feel like all of my friends that play with the mud in the river, catch a little fish, eel. I kind of wanted parts of it there, but my mom always put in my younger brother in my back, and I want me to cook rice. And then if I'm not cooking, my mom will punish me with like a bamboo stick, which is not a really fun. That's very familiar, right? I know. Right now I still, sometimes I see my mom, I always feel guilty about it, but which is I always make trouble for her. And, you know, kids, they always want their own. I was 10 to 12, like 13, and pretty much I was cooking for gathering with my aunt and then two cooking for villagers and then she's loved me to be there cooking with her. And it's kind of another way to... like a happiness, looking for all of the young boys, love my food. So like making me happy about it. You're young, you're kind of outgoing. You want to meet people all of the village you're eating. You'll see the good-looking guys that they're eating. They're talking about how you cook. It's like, oh, actually, I don't hate it. What does your mom think of your opening, you know, this second restaurant now and how far you have come as a chef? Obviously, my mom, dad, or any of my family in China, I don't think they're a picture about how I live or how I develop myself. They just, you know, my dad was still asking me, hey, babe, do you have enough food? Do you have a racing pig? Do you grow rice? That's all my dad asking me in a, talking of phone or FaceTime. And if he sees me... Back a day, I was lost a summer way. And then my dad was so worried about it. I don't have enough of food. And then the second day, he asked me, I automatically realized he asked me that because he worried about me. I'm a lost to some away. He thinks I don't have food to eat. And then he's super worried about me. I still laughing and said, dad, in the United States, lose away. So they're very popular. We want it. We mean to be.

You go a long way to make good food that is good for people. And there's plenty of that. But food that tastes good, that is actually good for you. That can be kind of hard to come by. And you travel in order to get... what you need for the restaurant. You just got back from a trip, right? Yeah, I just got from a trip. I got some tea and a little bit of spices, which is so hard. Right now, it's everything. So like all of a border control. So like you need a Pacific. You know what you really bring with it. You have to be everything like a hot heat and then to kill all of bacteria first and then to. bring over everything. So, which is, yeah, it's harder, but I think it's a, I love that flavor, some particular spice that's still later. My parents are sent to me or I go back and then I bring with it. So. In 2018, Lona, you got your first James Beard nomination for Best Chef Midwest, and you did an interview that year with Matt Sorrell for Sauce Magazine. And when you talked about the future, you said you would probably open another Lona's location, but it had to be the right time and the right place. So there were rumors or murmurs about a year and a half ago, at least, that you were going to open a second location. What was happening at that time that made it the right time for you? Well, it's the right time. First of all, I would love to, if I do something, I want to be like a brilliant good thing for people. And also I would, I don't want to, this is a big project and you don't want anything falling apart. And then second, it's the right place. It's like you want to go to, like we call the fortune places that you walk in. That's your heart to be with it. If your heart doesn't be with it, you have some current. concern a situation, you don't want to dragging yourself in a situation, chaos. And so it's hard to be like you're harder driven. And I love it to anywhere I go. I use my heart to feel. I use my heart to doing things a lot of time. And then that's why it's called the right place, the right feeling. So when I walk in the building, I feel this is a place that I want to be. So my heart is very confident taking me to there. And then I love to be there. I love to be feel this place. I love to be with this community. So that's kind of a positive.

like a precious. Yeah. Recently, there have been many restaurants in St. Louis that have closed. You know, the economy is very rough. What makes you feel confident that opening this location in Kirkwood is going to be the right move? Well, first of all, I'm going to say people closest and doesn't make me happy. I want everybody's success. And it's a hard time making me, like every time I heard people closing here, I feel so sad about it. But to me, for a second location, because we have a... The food is really healthy and we're really fresh. And also the price, I want it to be even, I make less money and I can make it everybody. You're poor, you're rich, no matter what. If you want to be healthy, if you want to be the pot, like eating my food, you can always affordable. And I'm not looking for making myself a fortune, but I want to make it for like my... staff are able to surviving, making myself able to survive, and make people able to afford to come and eat. And then that's kind of your meal, your lunch or dinner. And I don't want to, which is when I was moved in the United States, and if I want a good food, I have to spend hundreds of dollars or over $100, which is for us, poor people, $100 a meal. it's really impossible because we're counting our electricity, our kids' medicine, our kids clothing, our kids' school, everything. So that's why I'm thinking about people. I'm very confident to be like a, say, I love to make this happen in the future, and I love to bring this dishes for you guys to go out to have happiness, family don't need cooking in the kitchen, which is not fun. You go to hustling, work, come home cooking, doing dishes, clean the floor. take care of the kids, and then instead that family can have six children come over, spend like around $100, $120 a whole family. It's happy, right? Yeah, yeah. Six kids. Lona, thank you so much and congratulations. Lonello is the James Beard nominated chef owner of Lona's Eats. Lona's Lil Eats, the acclaimed Fox Park restaurant soft opened its second location in Kirkwood this Monday. A grand opening with the rice ribbon cutting and other festive elements happens this Saturday.

This episode was produced by Elaine Cha. Our audio engineer is Aaron Doer. This podcast was Mix and edited by Aaron. Our executive producer is Alex Hoyer. St. Louis on the air is a production of St. Louis Public Radio. Understanding starts here. Do you find yourself regularly listening to episodes of St. Louis on the air? Suggest us to a friend you think might enjoy our conversations. And leave us a review and rating on Apple Podcasts on the App Store. It's the simplest way to help people discover our show. Thanks. St. Louis Public Radio is a member-supported service of the University of Missouri, St. Louis.