CEDARBURG, Wis. — Nearly 50 years after immigrating to the United States to escape a civil war, the family behind a popular Cedarburg restaurant is creating their own American Dream.
Jerry Phoa and Kim Lai founded New Fortune Asian Cuisine in Cedarburg in 1997, and to this day, the family business is churning out some of the best cuisine in the city.
WATCH: Cambodian-American family behind popular Cedarburg restaurant makes their own American Dream
"We come from nothing," Lai said. "Very happy to come here, and now I'm here and don't want to move anywhere else."
Both Lai and Phoa fled their native Cambodia in the 1970s, when a civil war and refugee crisis forced many to leave the country. They both settled in the Milwaukee area and met while taking English classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College.
In the 2010s, after a four-year stint out of the restaurant business, their sons Jimmy and Wilson decided to revive the business in the same location on Cedarburg's Washington Avenue.
"It's amazing that we can be in the same kitchen," Jimmy Phoa said. "I feel like this is my second home."
Jimmy practicality grew up at New Fortune. He still remembers the meals his parents would cook him, including his favorite, the Tom Yum Sauce. He even met his wife here. She was a customer at the restaurant
"The dishes, when they were here in the 90s and 2000s, they're still having that same taste now."
His father Jerry began cooking in a Cambodian restaurant when he was 11 years old. He still mans the woks at New Fortune to this day, serving up a dishes from across Asia.
The menu has a focus on Chinese cuisine, while mixing in traditional Cambodian dishes like Gang Chicken and Thai dishes like Pad See Ew.
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