The Imminent Demise of Chef Shangri-La or the Beginning of the End... - General Tiki

P Polly_Nesia Member California Joined: Jul 21, 2008 Posts: 77	P Polly_Nesia Posted posted on Sun, Jul 3, 2016 12:29 PM We moved away from the Chicago area decades ago and unfortunately never dined there during that time but now wish we had reading some of the threads here and looking at various photos of the place. I can understand your feeling of loss at the thought of it ending at some point. Great piece of property and the restaurant really is a jewel of tiki from an era ago. Also understand the anger over all the work that went into revitalizing it including the invigoration brought on by her daughter and son-in-law and what they gave up to move home to help out. With Suzy, the mom, now close to 80 I imagine it will be hard to know exactly what will happen to Chef Shangri La's down the road as far as ownership. Sounds like there are other children, and mom might be thinking of how to handle her inheritance affairs down the road amongst them all. I looked up your 13-page thread on An Evening in Shangri La and see you guys had been working with Suzy and family since 2008. Sounds like there were a lot of fun nights along the way. Love the raffle idea and events that were planned. Not having been there but curious, also found a number of photos of the place from Google images, TripAdvisor (more recent photos) and a few photos from 2006 of the outside garden area ( http://electrifyingtimes.com/66/route_66_trip_tiki_bar_tour.html ). BTW was that a photo of Mr. Fong down further on the page there? Hopefully Chef Shangri La's will still be around for local tiki fans despite the management/ownership changes for the foreseeable future even if it's not as vibrant. Just being able to dine and drink in that ambiance given its history has got to be quite special. As others have said they don't make locations like that any more. It would be nice to think that the restaurant would eventually end up in the hands of new owners who would seek to preserve it and continue its tiki heritage. Worse case I see is that it's torn down for something else. Hopefully it will stay an on-going concern. And besides who doesn't love Chinese food?!...the tiki/Polynesian influences on top of that is all just good stuff. I'll hope for the best for all involved including patrons. BTW really nice job on the poster and promotional pieces. Like the designs.

We moved away from the Chicago area decades ago and unfortunately never dined there during that time but now wish we had reading some of the threads here and looking at various photos of the place. I can understand your feeling of loss at the thought of it ending at some point. Great piece of property and the restaurant really is a jewel of tiki from an era ago. Also understand the anger over all the work that went into revitalizing it including the invigoration brought on by her daughter and son-in-law and what they gave up to move home to help out. With Suzy, the mom, now close to 80 I imagine it will be hard to know exactly what will happen to Chef Shangri La's down the road as far as ownership. Sounds like there are other children, and mom might be thinking of how to handle her inheritance affairs down the road amongst them all.

I looked up your 13-page thread on An Evening in Shangri La and see you guys had been working with Suzy and family since 2008. Sounds like there were a lot of fun nights along the way. Love the raffle idea and events that were planned. Not having been there but curious, also found a number of photos of the place from Google images, TripAdvisor (more recent photos) and a few photos from 2006 of the outside garden area ( http://electrifyingtimes.com/66/route_66_trip_tiki_bar_tour.html ). BTW was that a photo of Mr. Fong down further on the page there?

Hopefully Chef Shangri La's will still be around for local tiki fans despite the management/ownership changes for the foreseeable future even if it's not as vibrant. Just being able to dine and drink in that ambiance given its history has got to be quite special. As others have said they don't make locations like that any more. It would be nice to think that the restaurant would eventually end up in the hands of new owners who would seek to preserve it and continue its tiki heritage. Worse case I see is that it's torn down for something else. Hopefully it will stay an on-going concern. And besides who doesn't love Chinese food?!...the tiki/Polynesian influences on top of that is all just good stuff. I'll hope for the best for all involved including patrons.

BTW really nice job on the poster and promotional pieces. Like the designs.

Post #765765 by Polly_Nesia on Sun, Jul 3, 2016 12:29 PM