Connie Andrews opened the first Golden Wok on San Antonio's north side on September 6, 1972, when she was 33 years old with two young kids and worked 18-hour days to get it off the ground, according to Golden Wok's website. More than five decades later, the restaurant empire she built is still being fought over in court — except now it's her estate doing the fighting, and she died in January without seeing it resolved.
A Decades-Long Partnership Turns Into a Legal Battlefield
Andrews died at home on January 16, 2026, at age 87, according to her obituary. Her estate sued longtime business partner Kenneth Lau and their shared businesses in Bexar County probate court earlier in October, as reported by the San Antonio Express-News. Lau became Andrews' business partner in 1976, the same year they opened a second Golden Wok location, and the pair went on to build San Antonio restaurants and other businesses together for more than four decades. Their relationship went beyond business: the two lived together and introduced themselves as husband and wife, even though they never formally married, the paper's reporting notes.
By the time she died, Andrews had dementia and was no longer involved in running the restaurants, according to court records cited in the same report. Lau, who turned 75 this month, has said he and Andrews were business and romantic partners but disputes that they were ever married. Today Lau operates two Golden Wok restaurants and a third eatery called China Rose.
The Estate's Lawsuit
A court-filed inventory valued Andrews' assets at more than $13 million.
The estate is asking the probate court to determine Andrews's interests and what should happen to the partnership.
Real Estate and a Common-Law Marriage Question
The estate's lawsuit also involves real estate. Lau bought another house in October 2020, about a year before leaving the home he shared with Andrews in October 2021.
Andrews maintained that she and Lau were married under Texas common law, while Lau disputed it.
Years of Dueling Lawsuits Before Her Death
This isn't the first round of litigation between the two. Andrews sued Lau for fraud in August 2021, accusing him of using her share of partnership distributions to secretly buy real estate solely in his own name, and claiming she'd been locked out of the business despite owning half of the partnership. She revoked Lau's power of attorney that same June and handed authority over her financial and legal affairs to her grandson, Guy W. Schuyler.
Lau and four of the businesses countersued in April 2022, accusing Andrews of withdrawing more than $2.8 million from joint and business accounts, with Lau saying $1.8 million of that came from a joint personal account. A state district judge granted Lau a temporary restraining order barring Andrews from withdrawing funds from five business bank accounts. Andrews dropped her original lawsuit that May before any ruling on the merits.
The marital question also figured in the legal dispute: Andrews maintained the two were married under Texas common law, while Lau disputed it.
Where the Case Stands Now
Lau has alleged that Andrews withdrew money from a joint account. His attorneys maintain that he and Andrews each owned equal interests in the businesses and that each bought property with their own money in their own names, with one exception: Kenneth Lau Properties, LLC.
The case also involved a guardianship inventory for Andrews.
A Business Built From a Dim Sum Cart
Whatever the court ultimately decides, Golden Wok's roots run deep in San Antonio. Lau, who was raised in China and trained as a chef in Hong Kong, applied for a job at Golden Wok in 1974 before becoming Andrews' partner two years later. The pair later expanded into Quik Wok, opening their first location in 1980 and eventually growing the chain to eight San Antonio locations and one in Fort Lauderdale before selling the business to Pillsbury Co. in 1985. They also branched out into a casino and Chinese cafe in Deadwood, South Dakota, and invested in residential rental properties in San Antonio, Las Vegas-area condominiums and California property.
Golden Wok opened a location on Wurzbach Road in 1987, and the restaurant has long drawn crowds for its dim sum, served from carts on Saturdays and Sundays. That tradition — and the question of who ultimately controls what's left of the empire Andrews and Lau spent more than 40 years building — remains unresolved.
