Ep. 12- Leeann Chin
- May 7
- 4 min read
This week we’ll be looking at the fascinating life and incredible legacy of Leeann Chin—chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and inventor of the cream cheese wonton.
We’ll follow her story from 1930s China to her arrival in 1950s Minnesota, years during which she received nothing but discouragement from others, to her eventual triumph as a business mogul and culinary star, in part thanks to a fateful encounter with none other than actor Sean Connery.
Correction
In the episode, we state several times that Leeann Chin was a mother of five. This is technically not incorrect, but she eventually was a mother of six. She had five children at the time she immigrated to Minnesota; her sixth child, Katie, was born in the US.
Clips Featured
In this episode, we played several clips from an in-depth interview that Leeann Chin gave to Twin Cities Public Television in 1992. The whole interview is worth a listen, and you can find it via TPT's podcast series, Minnesota Portraits.
We also shared a tiny snippet from a 1985 episode of the WCCO tv show PM Magazine, which is on YouTube thanks to the local nonprofit TCMediaNow. The whole segment is great, and features an interview with Leeann, footage of the original restaurant in Bonaventure Mall, and Leean giving a cooking lesson. Check it out:
Related Images
Here's a photo of the Chin family in Hong Kong in 1952. Leeann is standing on the left, next to her husband Tony, behind her mother-in-law Sook-Yee Chin, who holds Leeann and Tony's daughter Linda.
Here is the whole family in Minneapolis in 1965.
Out of the six Chin children, it would be the youngest, Katie, who followed her mother into the food business. Katie Chin eventually became an acclaimed chef in her own right. In the 1990s, mother and daughter even hosted a TV cooking show together, Double Happiness, nationally syndicated on PBS. Here is a photo of Katie and her mother in 1970:
As we talked about in the episode, Leeann's move from her home-based catering business to opening a restaurant was spurred on partly by a fateful meeting with Sean Connery at a party hosted by Carl Pohlad and Robert Redford. Here is a photo of Chin with Connery and Connery's wife, Micheline Roquebrune, at that event in 1979:
And from the same event, here she is with Carl Pohlad and Robert Redford:
All five of the images above are from an article written by Katie Chin for USA Today in which she talks about her family's struggles with mental health issues. (CW: suicide) Its a really moving piece that sheds a lot more light on the family dynamics, and we probably would have included some info from it in our episodes had we realized it existed at the time of recording (we just stumbled upon it now as we were searching for images).
Here she is at Union Depot in 1984, on the occasion of her opening a Leeann Chin's there:
Here's another early promotional photo:
Here she is in the 1990s:
She continued to host in-person cooking classes throughout her career. Here she is in 1995 hosting a class specifically for children:
Here she is with her daughter Katie sometime in the early 2000s:
In 2024, Katie Chin debuted a one-woman show, Holy Shiitake! A Wok Star is Born! based on her life and her relationship with her mother. (Naturally, we approve wholeheartedly of the pun-filled title.) In 2026, she is currently touring with the show.
Last but not least, we have to inform you that in 2025, to celebrate the restaurant chain's 45th anniversary, Governor Tim Walz issued an official proclamation declaring October 20th, 2025 to be "Leeann Chin Cream Cheese Puff Day," in Minnesota.
Sources Cited
Chin, Katie. “How cooking saved my mom's mental health and fed her Chinese food restaurant empire,” USA TODAY, May 28, 2022.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2022/05/28/mental-health-chinese-food-aapi/9886885002/
Gallafent, Alex. “How a Chinese restaurant in America’s Midwest won Sean Connery’s heart,” The World, May 16, 2016. https://theworld.org/stories/2016/05/16/leeann-chins-chinese-cooking-life-and-business
Harlow, Tim. “Leeann Chin, woman behind a Chinese food empire, dies at 77,” Minnesota Star Tribune, March 12, 2010.
Littlefield, Susan-Elizabeth. “‘She was a savant’: How Leeann Chin built her Asian cuisine empire from the ground up,” CBS Minnesota, May 30, 2023. https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/how-leeann-chin-built-her-asian-cuisine-empire-from-the-ground-up/
Leeann Chin official website. www.leeannchin.com Accessed April, 2026.
“Minnesota Portraits: A Conversation with Leeann Chin,” Minnesota Portraits. TPT Originals. July 23rd, 2020.
Raihala, Ross. “Celebrity Chef Katie Chin celebrates her immigrant mother Leeann Chin in one-woman show,” Pioneer Press, February 1, 2026.
Vezner, Tad. “Leeann Chin remembered as pioneering Twin Cities restaurant entrepreneur,” Pioneer Press, March 11, 2010.
Podcast Credits
Minnesota Unknown is produced, hosted, written, and researched by Alex Weston, Hannah Norton, and Josie Bergmann. This episode was edited by Alex Weston. Our theme song is by Union Shakedown. This episode is copyright 2026 by Minnesota Unknown, LLC. All rights reserved.
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