Evanston restaurant owners vow to stay open after pickup crashes through storefront

The owners of a popular downtown Evanston Chinese restaurant returned from Salt Lake City on Monday morning to find a pickup truck had smashed through their building, leaving a gaping hole in the storefront and little explanation for what had happened while they were away.

The restaurant, Wonderful Inn at 933 Front St., was closed and unoccupied when the crash occurred, narrowly avoiding what could have been a far more serious incident. Evanston Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Overy said the crash resulted from a medical situation involving the driver, and that only the driver was taken to the hospital.

A witness called police at about 6:40 a.m. after watching the truck cross the sidewalk and crash through a large plate-glass section of the storefront and the short brick wall beneath it, Evanston Police Lt. Ken Pearson said. First responders immediately began helping the man behind the wheel.

"They were great," Pearson said.

The driver was conscious when responders loaded him into the ambulance, and police were able to speak with him before he was taken to the hospital, Pearson said. He added that police do not expect to issue any citations.

By later Monday morning, Front Street had been reopened and was no longer affected by the crash, Overy said.

Owners return to find a mystery

Wonderful Inn's owners live in the Salt Lake City area and typically head there Saturday nights before returning to Evanston on Monday mornings, Branson Huang, the owners' nephew, told Cowboy State Daily.

When they arrived Monday, Huang said, there were no police officers or emergency responders outside to explain what had happened. Staff went to the Evanston Police Department, where they were given a case number and insurance information, and Huang began the process of filing a claim.

"Right now, we don't know what should we do because there is a big hole in the restaurant," Huang said.

Equipment and other property are still inside the building. The family said it was unsure whether to begin moving items or leave everything untouched until an insurance adjuster could document the damage.

"We haven't experienced anything like this before," Huang said.

Glass, brick, and a pickup

The damage made clear the scale of the impact. The white pickup had crossed the sidewalk before crashing through the storefront, shattering the window, tearing portions of its metal framing from the building and scattering glass across the sidewalk. Broken bricks lay beneath and around the truck, and long sections of mangled window framing lay amid the debris, with curtains that had covered the front windows hanging around the vehicle.

The pickup's front end came to rest well inside the building, its hood buckled and visibly damaged. Above the wreckage, the restaurant's turquoise facade still bore three large Chinese characters translating to "Hunan Garden," the restaurant's former name.

Despite the damage, Huang said the family was relieved to learn from police that the driver was OK.

"The other good news is the car hit another part of the restaurant," Huang said. "That part we are not going to use to serve the people."

He added that the section that was smashed is used mostly for storage, and that the restaurant will continue operating on its normal hours without interruption.

"We are still opening," Huang said.

Evanston business-license records identify Jibang Wen as the current owner of Wonderful Inn, city business-license technician Micki Cox confirmed Monday. Wyoming Secretary of State records also show an active Wyoming company, LY Management LLC, with its principal and mailing address at 933 Front St. The company's most recent annual report continues to list the Wonderful Inn address as its principal office and identifies Heidi Sy as its registered agent.

The ownership family said it was not ready to say much more about the damage while it worked through the insurance process and tried to figure out what comes next.