A local restaurant was closed for two weeks to give their head chef the chance to see his family in Thailand. He had not been with his family for 15 years.
For the last six years, Chef’s Choice Noodle Bar has closed for two weeks during the Kern County Fair, but nobody knew exactly why, until this year.
“This was the first year that we had a sign on the door to tell people why we are closing instead of we went on vacation for two weeks, we will reopen on October 4th,” said Nick Panici, General Manger at Chef’s Choice Noodle Bar.
They have closed every year to give their head chef a chance to go visit his family in Thailand, and the restaurant has picked up the tab.
“We found out that our head chef Peeda hasn’t been home to see his family in over 15 years and it was something the owner’s felt it was important for him to go back, he hadn’t seen his kids since they were 4 and 5 years old and now they are in college,” said Panici.
Noodle Bar lost more than $50,000 while they were closed, but the owners say that family is the most important thing to them.
The general manager says the restaurant has received great feedback from the community.
