By News Hub Staff
Cozy and cute.
This is how Yi Cheng, the owner of The Bing Ladies, describes the store she just opened at 917 W. 23rd Street in Cedar Falls, right next to the popular Greenhouse Kitchen.
The catchy name, which roughly translates as “pancake or crepe,” according to Yi, has been garnering popularity in town.
It first cropped up at the Cedar Falls Farmers Market a couple of summers ago, where a stand bearing the name drew crowds.
There, a group of friends made savory and sweet crepes, egg tarts, and teas and coffees, among other Asian delicacies.
These face-to-face interactions with curious first-timers and connoisseurs at the farmers market and a debut at Sturgis Falls, the town’s annual late June celebration, helped make The Bing Ladies a household name in town.
The farmers market seasons were a great training ground for Yi and her team, she told me in a recent interview.
The anticipation of the first day at the market is still quite vivid in her mind, going over details, losing sleep over what the reception would be.
It was a hands-down success, exceeding everyone’s expectations.
What made it successful was the tight-knit group of friends who savored the happy moments of togetherness, while sharing their culinary talents with the community and making new friends in the process. It was a limited commitment, from May to October, so they knew they could do it and test the sustainability of the idea.
It worked the first season. And the second.
“It wasn’t about making money,” Yi said. “It is about connecting with friends, making food, the joy of chatting and eating together.”
She also noticed that being at the market brought happiness to her life.
“I was a much happier person after the market,” she said
It was that combination of joy that came from the chatting and the cooking that gave Yi the confidence to explore a more permanent presence in town.
In the summer of 2024, she found the perfect spot on the Hill to take her venture to the next level.
She beamed, on a recent Sunday, as she recalled how she realized that she could repurpose the vacant store into a shopping space.
“It was really tempting,” she said. “We put together an excel spreadsheet and decided to do it.”
Yi, a mother of three, and her business partner, Jennie Wang, decided to dive in.
A talented interior designer, and a 2018 UNI graduate in accounting, Jennie loved the potential the space offered, with plenty of light streaming through the big windows and just enough space for a few tables.
“Jennie has an eye for things,” Yi said.
They opened the doors on Jan. 3, and were thrilled to find out that their friends from the farmers market really had missed them.
Many of them came to the store during the first days of the new year, while students were still on winter break, which was encouraging for the business.
But now that school is in session and word is getting around town that The Bing Ladies now have a permanent location, the store is buzzing.
Among the regulars here is Yi’s husband, John Anderson, a professor at the business school at UNI, and a Boone native who climbed Mt. Everest in 2017. He loves to come here in the morning, as do many of their friends.
“It is nice to see familiar faces and new faces,” Yi said.
What’s on the menu at Bing Ladies
A couple of fan favorite staples are prominently featured on the menu.
I tried the signature Jianbing, a savory crepe, which can be enhanced with bacon, ham, turkey or hashbrowns. I asked Jennie to make mine with ham, and my friend, Arta Berisha, a Fulbright scholar from Kosovo, tried the turkey one. The crepe had a quaint, layered taste we both loved. We also tried the Mongolian beef dumplings, which were flavorful and satisfying.
The beef for the dumplings takes several hours to prepare in her home kitchen, Yi said. The beef is cooked and then she and Jeannie wrap the meat in the dumpling shells, and cook them until they are ready.
A Japanese delicacy called Taiyaki, which features a Nutella and banana or strawberry and cream cheese filling, is also quite popular. Vietnamese coffee and strawberry matcha latte are among the favorites.
The menu is evolving as they explore the feedback from the customers.
“We are slowly growing our menu,” she said. “We will keep expanding.”
Meanwhile, some catering orders have come in, which will allow them to explore another prong of the business. The Bing Ladies will be catering a special event at the Hearst Center on Feb. 4, which they are excited about.
“We are putting ourselves out there,” said Yi, who works as a part-time adviser at the College of Business at UNI. “Everybody that has tried this, they love it.”
