Ling & Louie’s Asian Bar and Grill: A Restaurant Transformed
A long-time restaurant in Garden City, Idaho, was at a crossroads. Its physical location along the Boise River and adjacent multi-use path, near a busy street and popular hotel, offered an ideal site blending serenity and activity. But the new owners felt that the theme of the restaurant didn’t embrace the architectural character of the building or reflect the sense of place.
Originally designed in Frank Lloyd Wright’s late-era organic style by one of Wright’s disciples, the building had undergone several modifications over the years. It had lost much of its architectural integrity over decades of modifications and mismatched décor. Riverside Hospitality engaged our team to reinvigorate and transform the space into the newest location of Ling & Louie’s Asian Bar and Grill, an Asian fusion dining destination. The vision was to create an inviting environment embracing the river’s atmosphere, one that would serve nearby hotel guests as well as the surrounding community’s “live-work-create” district.
Design Vision: Architectural Integrity with Thematic Elements
Our goal was to restore the integrity of the original design, while making subtle enhancements to increase usable square footage within the building’s existing form. Our approach was to remove as much of the uncharacteristic elements as possible and bring back the original design in a simple and elegant way.
As a launching point for concepts, we imagined the building as a boat resting on the river’s shore. This idea provided clarity when integrating the original 1970s-era Chart House restaurant as we introduced new, necessary functional elements with design inspired by boat building and incorporating artisanal wood details.
Cultural Fusion and Custom Features
A key challenge was to infuse the distinct architectural style with Asian influences to achieve a fusion of cultures. This was accomplished through color scheme and wood details. The triangular-shaped building features a vaulted dining room with a slatted wood ceiling, while the central kitchen area is roofed and designed in the spirit of a cookhouse as you would find in a festive street market surrounded by street-style dining.
The bar area features custom-made elements, including an elegant light feature crafted by Noel Weber of Classic Design Studios and a bar top and booths handmade by other artisans. The barback was fabricated to maintain clear sightlines throughout the restaurant. Sapele, a type of mahogany, was used for wood features, and custom-made fixtures echo the building’s form in the dining room.
The Rigors of Adaptive Reuse and Renovation
The project involved a comprehensive remodel of the restaurant’s interior, including upgrades to the kitchen equipment, bar area, and additional square footage for a sushi bar and private riverside dining room. Beyond the interior, the project called for complete mechanical and electrical system upgrades and collaboration with a landscape architecture team, The Land Group, to enhance the exterior site and overall curb appeal.
With this extensive scope of remodel, down to the bones, the project required a hands-on approach from our design team, the owner, and the contractor. The building, as old as it is, and with limited information about its unseen components, meant not all outcomes could be preplanned. As we peeled away the layers, we uncovered many conditions that required on-the-fly problem-solving and solutions. Despite the necessary on-site decision making, the vision always guided the solution.
Engineering and Integration Challenges
From an engineering perspective, the project required rigorous integration of new systems. The building’s unique volume, with exposed structure as a feature, is celebrated as a defining feature of the space, however, it presented a challenge when it came to concealing the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.
Components were carefully incorporated into available alcoves, and a new mechanical screen wall was introduced to conceal trash bins and back-of-house equipment. The screen wall was designed to be part of the wooden ship structure, with lofting ribs reminiscent of a boat skeleton. This approach not only helped meld the building with its riverside setting but also reinforced the overall design narrative.
Exterior Concept and Landscape Integration
The redesign also required improved circulation with a tie-in between the multi-use path and The Riverside Hotel. A bridge connection conceived by The Land Group made the restaurant accessible and a cohesive part of the hotel and the Boise River Greenbelt pathway system.
The Ling & Louie’s project exemplifies how thoughtful redesign, rigorous engineering integration, and creative collaboration can reactivate an aging structure, creating a vibrant dining destination that honors both its architectural heritage and its new identity.
