The moniker Joy Wok reflects the mission of the restaurant in Chesterton.
“We just want people to come to the restaurant and be filled with joy when they leave. We want to satisfy them. That's why we named it Joy Wok,” said Hong Gao, co-owner and manager of Joy Wok.
“We do Chinese food and Thai food. We also have a lot of items on the menu. We bring something new to the community. We're also looking to add more stuff to the menu and something different.”
Gao said family members and fellow Valparaiso residents who help with Joy Wok include Chef Jinlong Gao, originally from China and formerly of Chesterton, and her brother Kui Gao, who works in the kitchen.
“When it comes to Thai food, I highly recommend the pad Thai noodles, Thai mango chicken and Thai basil beef. These three are the most popular dishes. When it comes to appetizers, it's Thai shrimp spring rolls,” Hong Gao said.
“The most popular dish with Chinese food is General Tso's chicken, Happy Family and dragon & Phoenix. Then the appetizer crab Rangoon is definitely something everybody should try.”
Happy Family is a chef's specialty and features fresh chicken, shrimp, roasted pork and beef with broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts, zucchini, snap peas, mushrooms and green cabbage in a brown sauce.
Dragon & Phoenix is another chef's specialty. The spicy dish features General Tso's chicken and garlic shrimp.
“Everything we make here is (made with) fresh ingredients. Everything is made from scratch. Everything is made to order,” Hong Gao said.
Prices start at $1.75 for appetizers, $2.75 for soups, $3.95 for fried rice, $4.95 for noodles, $6.95 for chicken dishes, $7.25 for beef or shrimp selections, $9.25 for vegetarian dishes and $10.95 for chef's specialties.
Joy Wok also offers lunch specials with plain fried rice and a pork egg roll until 3 p.m. for $7.25, and dinner combos with pork fried rice and a pork egg roll for $9.50. Vegetarian side substitutions are allowed.
“We have really good ratings on Facebook. Our business is growing. It's all because of word-of-mouth because we focus on quality service, and also our prices are really reasonable. We have the freshest ingredients and variety of food,” Hong Gao said.
Prior to Joy Wok opening in July, she owned restaurants in New York and a couple in Northwest Indiana and worked as a nurse and in sales. Living in Chesterton for approximately 13 years is what prompted her to open her latest venture there.
“I like the town. I like the people. They're very friendly,” Hong Gao said.
Joy Wok offers seating for approximately 28 people.
“We have origami art. Something that you don't see very often is artwork made all out of paper. I think that's very unique,” said Hong Gao.
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