Bob Chinn’s massive crab house on Milwaukee Avenue in Wheeling packed in thousands of diners over the years and was once ranked among the nation’s top restaurants in terms of sales.
Chinn worked the rooms in his restaurants, talking to customers and making menu recommendations.
“I’ve been in the restaurant business since the late 1970s, and I’ve never worked with an entrepreneur or a businessman who spent so much time talking to the people,” said Frank D’Angelo, a former longtime general manager of Bob Chinn’s Crab House.
“You came for dinner, he was part of your family — he would tell you what (food) to order, and he would tell you how to eat it. “
Chinn, 99, died of natural causes April 15 at his Northbrook home, said his daughter, Marilyn Chinn LeTourneau.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, Chinn was the son of restaurateur Wai Chinn, who moved the family to Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood in the late 1920s. Chinn’s father worked at the Oriental Gardens supper club downtown and then owned the New Wilson Village restaurant in Uptown until his death in 1952.
Chinn briefly attended Lake View High School before leaving school to work delivering Chinese food. After serving in the Army during World War II, Chinn worked in the restaurant supply industry for Albert Pick & Co. and Edward Don & Co.
Chinn’s first venture in restaurant ownership was a Chinese restaurant in Evanston called the Golden Pagoda, which he started in 1955 using some salvaged equipment from the New Wilson Village restaurant after a fire. In 1958, Chinn began operating the House of Chan, a carryout restaurant and luau catering service on Green Bay Road in Wilmette.
In 1973, Chinn opened Kahala Terrace, a Polynesian restaurant on Dundee Road in Northbrook, with his brother, Walter. In the early 1980s, he found a location in Wheeling for his seafood restaurant, and sold his share in Kahala Terrace to his brother.
In December 1982, Chinn opened Bob Chinn’s Crab House, which attracted patrons with crab legs and garlic rolls. The restaurant quickly expanded its capacity from 200 diners to more than 600, and today can serve more than 700 guests at one time.
Chinn eschewed wholesale seafood, which he didn’t find fresh enough, and instead built relationships with commercial fishing boats on both coasts. He would drive to O’Hare International Airport each day to pick up fresh seafood for his restaurant.
Chinn also avoided drenching his seafood in sauces.
“Really fresh fish doesn’t need a sauce,” he told the Tribune in 1993. “It just kills the flavor.”
The restaurant continues to be known for a festive atmosphere, with a noise level “equal in volume to a big convention at McCormick Place,” the Tribune wrote in 1993. By that point, the restaurant had become the fifth-largest eatery in the nation, as measured by dollar volume, according to Restaurants & Institutions magazine, having served 1.2 million patrons in 1992.
“I like lots of energy, lots of excitement,” Chinn told the Tribune in 1993. “At our restaurant, people like to watch people.”
Chinn prided himself on offering low-cost, family-friendly fare instead of the expensive outings offered by white-tablecloth restaurants with high-profile chefs.
“They charge way too much for what you get,” Chinn told the Tribune in 1993. “We do more volume than all the four-star restaurants in Chicago put together. That tells you what kind of food people want.”
D’Angelo said his former boss was constantly coming up with various innovations, whether related to service or the menu.
“His vision was always based on creating this wonderful experience for a customer,” D’Angelo said. “He always felt that it was his ideas that would make people satisfied. And it worked.”
Chinn never retired, although he spent winters in Hawaii, his family said.
Chinn’s wife of 69 years, Jean, died in 2016. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a son, Michael; a brother, Howard; seven grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A celebration of life service will be held from noon to 7:30 p.m. on May 16 at Bob Chinn’s Crab House, 393 S. Milwaukee Ave., Wheeling.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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