by Glenn Tschimpke
Staff Writer
Just outside the hub of burger joints, sandwich shops and delis dotting main thoroughfares of downtown lies Canton Restaurant. Its pastel exterior on Julia Street across from the BellSouth tower offers a respite for weary lunch crowds tired of wading through the look-alike clones of deli-land.
Offering a menu of Southern Chinese favorites, owner Kelly Eng cooks up an array of dishes for downtown lunch crowds much like his father did when he started Canton Restaurant in 1945.
“Cantonese food is more natural things — fresh meats and vegetables,” says Eng. “Because of the climate [in the Canton region of China], it’s usually fresh meats and vegetables with rice. Whereas in the colder, northern climates, they do beans and dried noodles and things like that because they don’t have fresh vegetables year round.”
An array of Asian dishes with different medleys of meats and vegetables are available at Canton Restaurant. But the only way to test the mettle of a Chinese restaurant, he says, is in the egg rolls.
“A lot of people like our egg rolls,” he explains. “People say that you can measure a good Chinese restaurant by their egg rolls.”
What makes his egg rolls so special? Eng rattles off a list of ingredients that can be found in any cookbook — cabbage, pork, shrimp, green onions, celery.
“Maybe it’s just the seasonings,” he shrugs.
While Chinese food is certainly not new to downtown, Eng’s restaurant has something no other eatery in the area has — seniority. Ting Yew Eng, Kelly’s father, came to the United States from China in the early 1940s. Looking for a better life, he initially landed in Bangor, Maine. He eventually moved to Long Island, N.Y. and started a restaurant, but the harsh northern climate had taken its toll on his health.
“He had a chronic cough and the doctor said, ‘Why don’t you take a vacation down in Florida and see if the weather agrees with you?’” explains the younger Eng. “He came down here and he liked it.”
Ting Yew Eng picked up right where he left off in Long Island, opening the Canton Restaurant on Julia Street in 1945. At the time, downtown Jacksonville was a bustling center of commerce and activity. The nearby Washington and Mayflower hotels were wells of income, providing a constant stream of hungry guests.
Kelly Eng inherited the family business in 1987, the year before his father passed away. After years of looking down on the restaurant business as a child, he grew to accept his destiny, putting his University of Florida business degree to work. In 1988, he remodeled, giving the restaurant a whole new look.
“I guess most restaurant kids, they grow up and they hate the restaurant business because their parents spend too much time and they’re always away,” he said. “You kind of think you don’t want to do it. But then I started working at it and I got interested and I actually went back and got a second degree at Florida State in hotel and restaurant administration.”
Over the years, the downtown hotels disappeared, marking the long, steady decline of Jacksonville’s core. Canton’s customer base has waned with the surrounding area but Eng is hanging around for the upswing. With the new U.S. Courthouse scheduled to open in September, followed by the new county courthouse which is expected a few years later and the general resurgence of western downtown, Eng sees brighter days in the future. And while it may bring more competition, he welcomes it.
“They always say in the restaurant business, you shouldn’t be afraid of competitors because it actually makes you better,” he said. “You have to try that much harder and you’re going to give a better product or give better service.”