Descendants of the Kim Wing family gather in the upstairs kitchen of the Local Spicery in Marysville for a cooking demonstration on March 1. This building was once referred to as the Kim Wing building, the residence and business for Joe “Chow” Kim Wing and his family.

 

MARYSVILLE, CA (MPG) - King Wong stared up at the balcony of the Local Spicery in Marysville, gently shielding his eyes from the morning sun. It had been years since he saw the place, let alone been inside. A tall figure leaned over the railing as he observed the commotion below.

“My grandfather used to own this place!” Wong shouted up, catching the man’s attention.

Wong was soon joined on the street by a group of women and children all snapping pictures and distracting themselves with excited chatter.

“This was our family's home!” exclaimed one.

“How cool is this?” replied another.

Kim Wing family descendants begin gathering outside the Local Spicery in Marysville on Bok Kai Parade Day, March 1. This building was once referred to as the Kim Wing building, the residence and business for Joe “Chow” Kim Wing and his family.

Nick Davoren, the building’s current owner, quickly disappeared from the balcony as the doors of the spicery opened. Davoren and his partner, Evelyn Wood, opened their shop here in 2018.

Located at 288 1st St., the place was originally known as the Kim Wing Building built in 1860 to serve as both a residence and business for Joe “Chow” Kim Wing and his family. As a prosperous trader specializing in Chinese goods, Wing later expanded his residence by adding a second floor in the 1920s, as noted by Yuba County Library records.

“We really did try to save as much as we could,” said Davoren in reference to the building’s renovations. “We actually started this company in the Bay Area before moving to Grass Valley. For some time, we had been looking for a place in Nevada County where we could make our product but there was just nothing in Nevada County where the zoning would work for us because we wanted to find something that had a special feel and would be a signature piece.”

In honor of the Bok Kai festivities on March 1, Davoren and Wood decided to host a rare but coveted cooking demonstration in their upstairs kitchen. The selected dish was a vegan recipe for garden vegetable kung pao.

“We used to come here every year to work in the temple,” said Casey Kim. “We would come as kids in the summer from San Francisco and stay here. My great-great uncle used to shoot the bombs out for bomb day. We really wanted to see the building and get inside so this was a great opportunity.”

Kim and her family accompanied Wong to the spicery for the cooking lesson. Inside, they were transported to childhood memories of pancake breakfasts, creepy stairwells and watching the first moon landing.

“It must've been during bomb day too because why else were we here?” laughed Kim.

Davoren seemed equally excited to have the family visit. He joyfully detailed his renovation process while simultaneously presenting the cooking demonstration and lesson.

“To me, kitchens are magical. There's an incredible cultural power that emanates from a kitchen and, for me, knowing that this one was the kitchen of Kim Wing's wife, it was important to preserve it,” said Davoren as he rinsed vegetables in the upstairs sink. “This is actually the exact place where the sink was before, with the exact view and same window size to preserve the same view shed, including the security bars. One of the interesting things that very few people know is the plumbing on this one fixture was reversed, hot on the right and cold on the left, which is the opposite of what we do today. But I kept it as the original just so that those moments when you're standing here and looking out and sharing the view shed, you can just kinda try to connect to the past.”

Steam rose in great swaths as Davoren poured chopped vegetables into his preheated pan. He started with the onions first so that their juices would form a thin sheet of natural cooking liquid.

“I don't know why when we start cooking, we intrinsically put oil in a pan but it's definitely not necessary,” explained Davoren. “When I cook, I don't cook with oil, you don't really need it, it's one of those things I've learned.”

Reducing the intake of excessive fats and oils is something that has become important to Daveron, especially after suffering a heart attack. Daveron now leans heavily into his wife’s vegan diet, crafting delicious dishes with his own custom spice blends.

Nick Davoren ladles freshly-cooked kung pao vegetables over cups of rice to share during his cooking demonstration on March 1 in Marysville. 

“Historically, spices were more valuable than gold and were used for medicine and healing,” said Daveron. “A large part of why we started this is that it's something we could do and never get bored with.”

Next came the carrots and peppers. Each ingredient added in order of density so as not to over or under cook any item. As needed, Daveron splashed a spiced broth mixture into the plan to deglaze it. The aroma of fresh spices hung in the air while the vegetables slowly sizzled in the pan. It was a slightly strange experience for the Wing family descendants. Only breakfast food had been served upstairs when they were children; all the other major cooking was done in a commercial wok on the downstairs floor near the storefront.

“They used to make us dollar-sized pancakes. We'd get one for each year of our age,” said Kelly Kim.

By the time Davoren was finished adding the last bit of fresh lime zest, everyone in the room was salivating. It was 10 minutes until parade time and the anticipation for both was palpable. Tiny rice-filled cups laden with scrumptious vegetables were passed around the room as firecrackers exploded directly below. The family relished in this moment, enjoying one more meal together in the home of their ancestors before setting off into the outside world again for who knows how long.