Lucy Wang knew her parents’ Three Cup Chicken dish was a hit when she introduced it 10 years ago to then-boyfriend Eric Repas on one of their early dates. Now she and now-husband Repas are reopening her vault of family recipes to share with Canton and Highlandtown.

Bao Di, the new restaurant and bar that sits on the edge of both neighborhoods, is set to open Wednesday and promises to fill a void in cozy, traditional Chinese food options from the country’s Northeast region. Co-owner Lucy Wang spent three years searching for the perfect corner of Baltimore to set up shop with Repas, who has taken special care preparing the eatery’s sports bar.

The couple hope to make the restaurant at 3215 Eastern Ave. a community gathering spot. Wang said she’d love customers to find comfort in her family’s recipes, which have been a source of pride for generations.

The name Bao Di denotes a warm and welcoming energy that Wang and Repas say is a guiding light for the restaurant. Wang’s father, who she encourages others to refer to as Chef Wang, helped the couple build the menu from Northern Chinese staples, some of which customers may find surprising.

Among Lucy Wang’s favorites are a clay pot with ribs and sauerkraut — a product of her parents’ emigration from Shenyang, a city relatively close to Russia.

“If you think about it, back in the day, not everything was accessible. You’re not getting bananas from South Asia, but you’re getting cabbages, potatoes and stews to keep you warm,” she said. “Anything with napa cabbage, that’s been a staple in our food.”

Other notable classics include cheese wontons and bao di chicken wings, which Chef Wang has spent years crafting, as well as gua bao pork belly buns, vegetarian dishes like yu xiang eggplant, and salt and pepper shrimp, served with the prawns’ heads attached for an extra crispy texture. If that sounds intimidating, don’t worry — there are also the familiar American Chinese dishes like General Tso’s chicken and varied stir fries.

Chef Wang ran his own Chinese restaurants in Kentucky, which he sold while his daughter was still in college. Since then, Wang said her father has dreamed of returning to the kitchen, just as she and her husband hoped to build their own legacy in the industry.

They set their sights on Baltimore because of Repas’ ties to the area. Repas, who was born and raised in the city, moved back with Wang in 2019. Together, they missed Wang’s family’s cooking and struggled to find a restaurant close by that met their standard for Chinese food.

After the pair had two kids, Wang’s parents moved to the area. Shortly after, they began to work toward opening a restaurant. In the process, they had to remodel the eatery’s Eastern Avenue kitchen with ovens able to churn out duck and ribs. The “heart of the kitchen,” Wang said, is a custom-made Chinese wok oven that required a forklift for Repas to move. The burner stove has four different rings with varied horsepower and is responsible for nearly every dish on the menu.

“We need a special type of fire power to make the certain food a certain way,” Wang said.

Repas also brings to the space a carefully developed bar menu, including a Baltimore Zoo cocktail — a variation on a Long Island iced tea with vodka, rum, gin and triple sec — which he was drinking the first time he met Wang. Repas hopes the eatery’s televisions and a wall painted purple in homage to the Ravens encourages people to hang out and watch a game, as well as try some quality Chinese food.

Customers briefly got a look during a four-day trial run ahead of the grand opening. Repas said some customers came back for multiple visits during that short time. He was thrilled, but not all that shocked to see the Three Cup Chicken he, too, had fallen in love with so many years ago become an instant favorite.

Wang said she anticipated having to explain some of the dishes to neighbors who would otherwise feel surprised by being served shrimp with heads attached or even the Three Cup Chicken, which still has some bones inside. But all the feedback she has received so far has been full of overwhelming gratitude.

“It gave us a validation of everything we were hoping to accomplish,” she said.