Lina Fat, credited with building a Sacramento-area restaurant empire, dies at 81

Lina Fat, the woman widely credited with building the Fat Family Restaurant Group empire beyond its L Street roots, died Monday at about 1:15 a.m. at Sutter General Hospital. She was 81.

Born Po Ying Yue in Hong Kong in 1938, Fat came to the United States to attend a small liberal arts college in Nashville, Tenn. Her cooking skills at the time bore no indication she would blossom into the restaurant group’s backbone; she burned rice and struggled to put together a sloppy joe, she told a Sacramento Bee reporter in 1997.

Fat moved west after graduation to attend UC San Francisco Medical Center’s school of pharmacy, where she met her husband Ken Fat, Frank Fat’s son. They graduated together and moved to Sacramento, and Lina became the lone assistant in Ken’s dental practice — a short-lived arrangement, he recalled.

“It didn’t work out too well because she quit within the first two months,” said Ken, twirling his wife’s wedding ring up and down his left pinkie finger. “She couldn’t take my orders, and I would have fired her, because she didn’t take my orders. Anyway, that shows you how independent she was.”

Lina went to work as a part-time pharmacist and stayed home with the couple’s young children until 1974, when the rest of the Fat family was getting ready to open Old Sacramento restaurant China Camp. It was her idea to base the rugged, miner-themed China Camp around grilled meats, a concept that led to Frank and his sons Wing and Tom unexpectedly tapping her to be the chef.

When Fat City Bar & Grill opened next door two years later, she helped devise the menu there as well, adjusting traditional Chinese dishes to fit American palates and desires. A catering operation and two more restaurants in Roseville and Folsom followed, and Lina became the group’s executive corporate chef.

Fat was named Restaurateur of the Year by the California Restaurant Association’s Sacramento chapter in 1987, published an eponymous cookbook in 1992 and was named Businesswoman of the Year by the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce in 2000. She also launched the Sacramento World Music and Dance Festival in 2007.

She was on hand to celebrate Frank Fat’s 80th anniversary in August and spoke at the September funeral of her friend Biba Caggiano, whom she met playing tennis, both with an infant in a stroller sitting by the court. The two local restaurant trailblazers’ deaths struck Mulvaney’s B&L co-owner Bobbin Mulvaney, a longtime friend of Fat’s, as the end of an era, she said.

“These ladies really taught us all a lot. They led our path, and did it so graciously,” Mulvaney said. “(Lina) contributed in sculpting our community. I hope that everyone knows just by hearing about her what a gentlewoman she was.”

Fat’s grace shone through in her presentation; the handmade jewelry and designer clothes she enjoyed weren’t commonly worn by female chefs, Lemon Grass owner Mai Pham said. She often ate at Lemon Grass on Sundays, a typical day off for chefs.

Pham founded her own restaurant more than 25 years ago with limited commercial cooking experience as well, and viewed Fat as a role model, she said.

“I always looked up to her because of the Fat family and their restaurant dynasty, and she was already someone who was a highly respected icon,” Pham said. “The restaurant business is a tough one, let alone for a woman who didn’t know what she was doing when she first opened up, and so (Fat) was sort of an inspiration for me ... it’s a great loss for Sacramento.”

Fat eventually left the kitchen and wore many hats within the Fat Family Restaurant Group, ending her time with the company as the vice president of culinary research and development. Her brother-in-law, Jerry, is the CEO; her son, Kevin, is the chief operating officer.

Her health worsened in her later years, Ken said. Walks around her Sierra Oaks neighborhood got shorter as she gradually lost energy, Ken said, and she was bedridden for a couple days before succumbing to heart failure.

Never officially retired, Lina remained working into her final year, including menu input on a Frank Fat’s dinner for Gov. Gavin Newsom and his family in June. She and Ken also took 14 other members of the family on a Scandinavian cruise over the summer, he said.

“She kind of figured that was her last trip,” Ken said. “She took this as a final opportunity to get everybody together one time.”

Lina Fat is survived by her husband Ken Fat; their children, J.C. Fat, Kevin Fat and Diana Fat Carpenter and their spouses Shareen Fat, Sarina Fat and Cy Carpenter; her grandchildren Michelle, Michael, Marisa, Mason, Malia, Marshall Fat and Cy and Ellie Carpenter; and numerous other family members and friends.

She was preceded in death by mother Wong Yuk Ping; uncle Wing Cheng and aunt Lina Choy; father-in-law Frank Fat and mother-in-law Mary Fat; brother-in-law Wing Kai Fat, Tom Fat and Pat Moffat and sister-in-law Jenny Fat.

This story was originally published November 25, 2019 at 4:12 PM.