Ming's Restaurant & Lounge, Yreka, CA (bar)

Name:Ming's Restaurant & Lounge
Type:bar
Street:210 W Miner St
City:Yreka
State:CA
Zip:
country:USA
Phone:(530) 842-3888
Status:operational

Description:
Ming's is an old Chinese restaurant with a Tiki-ish bar in Yreka. Yreka is a speck of a town near absolutely nothing but the California/Oregon border.

Years ago, Chris Nichols mentioned to me that there was an old Chinese restaurant in Yreka that was using tiki mugs. Yreka is the last town along I-5 at the very north end of California, and there's really not much of a reason to stop there other than your basic gas & food fill-up, and while tiki mugs in use in such a remote locale is exciting to me, tiki mugs do not a tiki bar make, so I hadn't gone looking for it.

Then, today, I found myself in Yreka, looking at this:

A tiki mug on the bar sign! Lauhala! Rope! Lots of shades of brown, beautiful brown! Tapa cloth & bamboo lamps! Featuring Exotic Tropical Cocktails!

AND A CLOSED SIGN!

Pretty much everything in Yreka is closed on Sundays, it turns out. But I couldn't give up there -- who knows when I'll be in Yreka again? I called the restaurant, and a very nice and very confused gentleman picked up the phone. His English was much better than my Chinese, but that didn't mean we understood each other. After about 10 minutes of incredibly confusing conversation, I finally succeeded in getting the message across that I was not desperate for a drink, I was desperate for a photo of a place to drink. It's really a pretty silly thing, even if we both spoke English I think a solid "huh?" would have been warranted.

So I got in:

Not bad, eh? Okay, it doesn't knock my socks off or anything, but this is in Yreka. Spending some time there at night, with a drink in hand, probably enhances the experience, too. And the carpet actually was sock-knocking, but I didn't get a picture.

There's lauhala everywhere, and lots & lots of these Orchids of Hawaii-type lamps. There were a couple of the tiki-faced bamboo OoH lamps, but most of them were these hexagonal ones (which I actually like better) with lovely tapa bottoms. The whole place was in very nice shape, really -- I'm noticing only now in the photos that the ceiling lauhala looks like it might have some water damage. There are tiki masks on the walls, but they're the standard, modern Indonesian things -- nothing great, but they work okay in this space (it is a Chinese restaurant, and not a Polynesian one, after all).

Here are the tiki mugs that Chris had mentioned. Looks like standard, modern Dynasty Wholesale stuff.

This is the hallway into the bar & restaurant from the back entrance.

Here's what Ming's looks like from the outside.

So I say, if you're in the area (on any day but a Sunday), it's definitely worth taking a moment to check it out. I didn't think to ask to see a menu, so I can't offer much info there.

Here it is in Critiki:
Ming's Restaurant & Lounge

Wonderful photos, Humu, thanks to your exemplary urban archeologist's persistence! I have often wondered what drives the Chinese to open their restaurants in the most godforsaken places where they certainly will be the only ones of their culture group.....

There's a whole separate thread....

Old School Chinese restaurants with actual Chinese architecture....They keep disappearing too.

[ Edited by: surfalaia 2009-08-05 07:27 ]