{"id":33357,"date":"2019-07-01T07:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T14:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/?p=33357"},"modified":"2019-07-01T15:28:15","modified_gmt":"2019-07-01T22:28:15","slug":"carlins-cherished-chef-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/carlins-cherished-chef-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"Carlin\u2019s Cherished Chef-Artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dianna Troyer<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Chin\u2019s
Chin\u2019s Caf\u00e9 owner and artist Li Ju Chin painted this cowboy portrait. Li says she enjoys painting subjects that reflect western American and Chinese cultures.<\/strong>
Photos by Lonny Brown<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In 1983, Chin\u2019s Caf\u00e9 opened its doors in Carlin. Since then, the popular Chinese restaurant that doubles as an art gallery has become a revered
\ninstitution in the small community of 2,400 people.<\/p>\n

Li Ju Chin, the caf\u00e9\u2019s 64-year-old matriarch and co-founder, coupled her love for Chinese cooking with her passion for oil painting to create a unique establishment that\u2019s rich in Chinese- American tradition.<\/p>\n

Li and her husband, Johnson, cook six days a week for their loyal customers at Chin\u2019s Caf\u00e9.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir food is amazing,\u201d says Carlin City Council member Margaret Johnston. \u201cThey could do a lot of business with tour buses in summer, but Li always tells them to go to Elko because her local customers come first.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie and his mother Pat Kendrick, customers for two decades, take their out-oftown visitors to Chin\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love bringing them here for her food, artwork and hospitality,\u201d Charlie says. \u201cHer paintings are vibrant and full of life and seem to have movement. I get a radiant and peaceful feeling looking at them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Charlie and Pat\u2019s longtime friend and Carlin High graduate Kim Weighter makes her annual trip home to Carlin from California, the Kendricks always meet Kim at Chin\u2019s for a meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLi is a most gracious host, serves excellent food, and is an exquisite painter,\u201d Kim says. \u201cHer Chinese heritage and commitment to Carlin are equally important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several of Li\u2019s paintings are on display at the caf\u00e9, including a diving eagle grasping its prey, a lynx, a Chinese girl walking her Pomeranian dog, and birds in flight. She often gives paintings to customers and friends.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiving away paintings is my way to thank customers for coming to our caf\u00e9,\u201d she says. \u201cSometimes they ask me, \u2018Will you do a painting of my dog?\u2019 Even though I\u2019m not perfect or professional, people seem to like my paintings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Li paints in her spare time, usually in the mornings before coming to work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to paint everything\u2014 people, scenery, wildlife and children,\u201d she says. \u201cPainting makes me feel peaceful and patient and relaxed. It makes me look at the whole world and see how beautiful it is. After taking lessons, I began to notice colors in nature\u2014 the different shades of blue in the sky or greens in the grass and trees. I don\u2019t know why I never noticed those things before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chin\u2019s Caf\u00e9 occasionally serves as a place for Li to meet with civic leaders and plan community events. One of her recent community projects is still attracting national and international media attention.<\/p>\n

\"Portrait
Li\u2019s portrait of a Chinese child.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last summer, Li and Margaret coordinated a team of volunteers to rebury 13 Chinese residents who lived in Carlin between the late 1800s and early 1920s and had been buried in an unmarked cemetery. Now known in media circles as \u201cthe Carlin 13,\u201d the Chinese residents helped build the Transcontinental Railroad, ran local businesses and sold vegetables they raised.<\/p>\n

Their caskets were found during a routine backyard excavation project in 1996, and researchers from universities and federal agencies exhumed the caskets to study the remains and artifacts inside, which included opium pipes, coins and dishes.<\/p>\n

The Carlin 13 were eventually taken to the University of Nevada Las Vegas. Twenty two years after the remains were found, Li and Margaret led a community effort to have them returned to Carlin, where they were buried last summer during a ceremony that coincided with the town\u2019s sesquicentennial celebration July 3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought they should have a traditional Chinese burial so they could finally be at peace,\u201d Li says. \u201cMy husband and I were honored to cook food for the ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n

While running Chin\u2019s Caf\u00e9 and serving her community, Li says she often thinks of ideas for paintings.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cIf I ever retire, I\u2019ll paint even more,\u201d she says. \u201cBut for now, I\u2019m happy cooking at our caf\u00e9, painting when I have spare time and helping our community. We hope someday someone will take over the caf\u00e9 and continue serving our food. Then I\u2019ll have more time to paint and do other projects in town.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dianna Troyer In 1983, Chin\u2019s Caf\u00e9 opened its doors in Carlin. Since then, the popular Chinese restaurant that doubles as an art gallery has become a revered institution in the small community of 2,400 people. Li Ju Chin, the caf\u00e9\u2019s 64-year-old matriarch and co-founder, coupled her love for Chinese cooking with her passion for […]\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":33358,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[218,220],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33357"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33357"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33357\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33358"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrec.coop\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}