Little Wall, big flavor: Florence mainstay downsizes, opens new smaller location

Maria Zhao, an employee at the Little Wall, makes egg rolls at the restaurant on Main Street in Florence.

Maria Zhao, an employee at the Little Wall, makes egg rolls at the restaurant on Main Street in Florence. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

Clara Li, owner of the Little Wall in Florence, makes a takeout order of walnut chicken on a recent afternoon. Li, who for years operated Great Wall on Pine Street in Florence with Ken Cheung, sold that restaurant and recently opened a smaller version of the Chinese restaurant on Main Street.

Clara Li, owner of the Little Wall in Florence, makes a takeout order of walnut chicken on a recent afternoon. Li, who for years operated Great Wall on Pine Street in Florence with Ken Cheung, sold that restaurant and recently opened a smaller version of the Chinese restaurant on Main Street. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

The Little Wall recently opened on Main Street in Florence.

The Little Wall recently opened on Main Street in Florence. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

Clara Li, who owns the Little Wall with Ken Cheung, in the new restaurant on Main Street in Florence. The couple operated Great Wall on Pine Street in Florence for nearly 30 years before selling it and downsizing to a smaller restaurant.

Clara Li, who owns the Little Wall with Ken Cheung, in the new restaurant on Main Street in Florence. The couple operated Great Wall on Pine Street in Florence for nearly 30 years before selling it and downsizing to a smaller restaurant.

The Little Wall recently opened on Main Street in Florence. The Chinese restaurant is owned by Clara Li and Ken Cheung, who for years operated Great Wall on Pine Street in Florence.

The Little Wall recently opened on Main Street in Florence. The Chinese restaurant is owned by Clara Li and Ken Cheung, who for years operated Great Wall on Pine Street in Florence. STAFF PHOTO/CAROL LOLLIS

By Emily Thurlow

For the Gazette

Published: 10-19-2023 12:58 PM

FLORENCE — A challenge in staffing has provided a new opportunity for two longtime Valley business owners.

For nearly 30 years, Clara Li and Ken Cheung have relied on family members as well as a handful of locals to staff their Pine Street Chinese restaurant, Great Wall. As their children are now grown and have moved away, and it has become increasingly difficult to find a larger reliable staff, it became apparent that it was time to downsize their Florence mainstay.

After selling the Great Wall, the couple have opened the Little Wall restaurant at 91 Main St.

“I wanted to open something smaller and do something a little different,” Li said. “It’s time to change.”

She noted that they decided to stay in Florence because her family lives there and they all really love the community.

With Great Wall, Li and Cheung prided themselves on using locally grown and purchased produce as members of Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture, a nonprofit agency committed to helping build up farms and the food economy in Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden counties. And while much of their business practices will remain the same, some of their dishes will not.

“I think other Chinese restaurants are so boring,” Li said with a chuckle. “They don’t change the menu … Instead, it’s all old stuff, all the time, so I wanted to do something different. I mean, why not?”

Li noted that China is such a large country and has such diverse styles of cooking throughout different regions. Cheung, who is the main chef, grew up in more of the country in China and is known for making family homestyle meals.

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Li moved around quite a bit, but says that she calls Hong Kong her hometown. She was taught to cook by her parents who owned a restaurant in that metropolis.

Opening Little Wall has given them a chance to try out some new menu options that she’s never tried cooking before, such as Pad Thai, a dish of rice noodles that includes peanuts, scrambled eggs, bean sprouts, and an option of shrimp, chicken or tofu.

“I’ve been open for two months now and people just love it,” she said.

Cheung will continue to offer some of the former restaurant’s classics, including Bok Choi with garlic and ginger sauce, several kinds of dumplings, and South China pork, which features pork that is first stir-fried, then arranged in multiple layers alternately with sun dried vegetables, Guangdong pickled mustard greens, and slow cooked for many hours.

Other new items Little Wall is offering are hand-pulled noodles, noodle soup bowls and Henan Chicken, which is a baked chicken dish rubbed with 13 spices.

Prices range from $10.95 to $14.95 for noodle and rice dishes, and $13.95 to $29.95 for chef’s entrees. Smaller plates or appetizers range from $2 to $10.95.

Though the space is smaller, the restaurant is open every single day with a staff of six.

As Li and Cheung settle into their new digs, they’ll continue to try out new items to see what the community likes and adjust the menu and their hours accordingly.

“We hope people come out and try some of our new items and new style of cooking,” she said.

Little Wall is open Sunday through Thursday, noon to 8 p.m., and Friday and Saturday, noon to 9 p.m.