The decision to close one of Saucy Porka’s locations was a tough one for Amy Le to make.
After over a decade in the Loop, Le, the founder and owner of the Asian and Latino cuisine restaurant, shut down that location on Dec. 15 after a difficult year.
In October, the restaurant’s beloved Chef M was beaten up by three men on his way home from a late shift. He was stabbed in his stomach five times and in his back three times, and a nerve in his right hand was sliced, leaving him unable to cook.
“I felt three punches on my back and then I saw the knife in his hand and I felt scared because I saw the knife and then I saw another two guys,” Chef M said.
He was in the hospital for eight days. After being left with an outstanding medical bill, a GoFundMe page was started to help pay for the expenses. Community members have raised over $16,000 of the $30,000 goal.
“I feel so grateful, blessed because the people, they don’t know me, but they still support me, helping with this,” Chef M said. “Support is so important for me because I don’t have enough money to pay my bills on the hospital, it’s a lot.”
He grew up in Guerrero, Mexico, helping his mom make masa for tortillas and helping his dad on the farm. He later moved to America, where he would get into the restaurant business.
In the almost two months since the attack, his back and stomach have recovered, but he said his hand hasn’t even recovered 50%. He is unable to fully grip anything and cannot lift heavy objects.
”The big plan right now is just recover my ability to grab,” Chef M said.
Le said the restaurant was already facing difficulties before her main chef was attacked.
The increase in tariffs caused the restaurant’s international vendors to raise their prices on goods. President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, Operation Midway Blitz, caused employees to worry about their safety. One of the managers’ brothers was picked up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, Le said.
“There was just so many layers of just already added stress and then this happens with Chef M, it was just kind of like the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Le said.
After hours of waiting in the hospital, the clock struck midnight, marking Le’s 46th birthday, but she was focused on getting an update on Chef M, who was in the trauma center. Then later that day, she was back at work, catering for 150 people.
“I think people don’t understand about restaurant owners is that there is no downtime for us mentally and physically sometimes, and you go through this traumatic experience, but then you also have these commitments to, not only your staff, but you have commitments to customers, you have commitments to just running a business,” Le said.
This mindset is all too familiar to Le. She grew up in St. Louis, working in her mom’s Chinese restaurants. In 2011, Le kick-started her own food truck in Chicago and even helped launch the Illinois Food Truck Association, she said.
Chef M worked as a fry cook close to Le’s food truck and noticed how much she was working, as she was the only one running the food truck. He offered to help her out in the mornings. This went on for a couple of years.
“We’ve always clicked from the get-go, like we have very similar personalities,” Le said. “We’ve always been in sync and had this rhythm in the kitchen together.”
When she got the opportunity to open her restaurant, she asked if he would join her, which he did. Le started Saucy Porka at a brick-and-mortar with Chef M in the Loop.
“He literally helped me launch that,” Le said. “He helped me train the staff and do a lot of the basic stuff and he never left my side from that point on.”
Saucy Porka still has locations in Hyde Park (1164 E. 55th St.) and St. Louis.With the hardships she’s faced this year, Le’s taking 2026 to reflect, regroup and plan for 2027.
“Whether the economy, the inflation, whether tariffs go away, whether there’s a slowdown in ICE activity, these are all things that we have to be prepared for,” Le said.
