Tell everyone — the secret is out.

It was a matter of time and Jack Ng can’t keep it anymore.

Now, everyone can know.

“Everyone asks for that recipe,” he said. “People offer to pay me for the recipe.”

The recipe in question is for walnut shrimp, the top selling dish at Imperial at Kasteel in Oak Harbor and China City in Freeland.

What twisted Ng’s arm? Fame — of sorts.

More than a decade ago, Jack Ng and his family came to America from China searching for a better future. Today, Jack Ng will appear live on “KCTS Chefs” to show his skill in the kitchen.

The show will air live from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. today.

“I’m really happy to be included,” Ng said. “I think it will help bring us up to the next level. We’re really proud.”

This is the 12th year that KCTS has asked its viewers to nominate chefs and recipes of the region. This year 13 chefs, including Ng, will step in front of the cameras to reveal their secrets for preparing signature restaurant dishes.

The KCTS Chefs 2007 companion cookbook includes all of the recipes featured on the special and more from viewers’ favorite restaurants in Washington and British Columbia. The book containing more than 200 recipes will be offered as a pledge premium during broadcasts. If you want to capture Ng’s performance for posterity, a DVD of the special will also be offered, along with a CD-rom of the cookbook.

In addition to the famed walnut shrimp of Whidbey’s own China City and Imperial, viewers of the KCTS Chefs show can learn about dishes such as the Chicken Gargonzola at Paolo’s Italian in Kent, the steamed green curry mussels from Madoka on Bainbridge Island, the coconut macaroon torte from Dakota Café in Ellensburg and the salmon with horseradish crust and succotash from T’s Restaurant in Port Townsend.

Ng said this year’s show offers a great representation of how great food isn’t segregated to big cities.

“Last year the chefs were mostly from big cities, but this year most everyone is from smaller cities,” he said. “I think that’s great and shows people good food can be right in their home town.”

The dish Ng will prepare — walnut shrimp — is a bestseller at the Ng family restaurants.

“It’s a beautiful dish that sells itself on presentation alone,” said Imperial manager Maria McGee.

“Our walnut shrimp draws people from out of state,” Ng said. “I just can’t believe it when people say how far they came for it.”

Ng (pronounced “Ing,” as in if he’s cook-ing, you’ll want to be eat-ing), and his family immigrated from the Canton state of China when the now 29-year-old Jack was 12 years old.

The family first opened a restaurant on Whidbey in 1999 with China City in the Old Town Mall on Pioneer Way. A year later they opened another China City in Langley in what is now the Edgecliff. Two years later they moved the second location to Freeland. Most recently they changed the name of the Oak Harbor restaurant and transformed China City to Imperial at Kasteel, formerly Kasteel Franssen just north of town.

Restaurants have been in Jack Ng’s life as long as he can remember.

“It’s what my family did back in China so I grew up in the kitchen,” Ng said.

Imperial at Kasteel in Oak Harbor and China City in Freeland are a family business. Jack is the businessman who takes on the general manager duties of both establishments. His father, Yee Nam Ng, and mother Yuet Hu Liu, can often be found in the kitchens, brothers Guo Lun Wu and Guo Qin Wu also help out in the kitchens and sisters Judy Wu and Fong Ng can often be found working the front of the house. Ng’s wife, Angela, is the manager down at China City while McGee watches over Imperial. But as in any family business, everyone works where needed, and that includes Jack himself.

“If Maria calls me up and says she needs a cook that’s where I’ll be,” he said. “If she calls and says a dishwasher is sick then I’m in the back washing dishes.”

Both locations are successful, serving thousands of customers each year. The Oak Harbor restaurant has a staff of around 30 and the Freeland restaurant employs around 40 staffers. To Jack, they are all extended family.

“We all work together nicely,” he said. “It’s all about the customers.”

Since opening the restaurants, Ng said his family has prided itself in offering both authentic cuisine and a friendly atmosphere.

“We really strive to set a nice atmosphere that’s comfortable for everyone, from families to couples, but also have a style that’s a little nicer,” he said. “We want to show people that Chinese restaurants can be really nice and not ghetto while still serving great, affordable food.”

Apparently the ambiance is working. In its first year the new Imperial location has been the host to two weddings and a couple of marriage proposals.

“It was fun and beautiful,” McGee said. “We helped one guy put the proposal into a fortune cookie.”

McGee considers imperial to be much like that fortune cookie. The building is a familiar site — its former restaurant Kasteel Franssen was a formal dining staple on the island for years. But, people have yet to discover the new fortune inside.

“I have people ask me all the time ‘Do I need to dress up’,” she said. “No! Just come in. People don’t realize how fun, relaxed, yet nice it is here until they see it for themselves.”

Ng said he likes to make his menu accessible and affordable. Sundays offer seniors a 20 percent discount, Mondays give specials on “M” drinks in the restaurant’s lounges, there’s early bird lunch specials at Imperial and if people sign up to be a VIP they get freebies on their birthday and anniversaries.

“We always have something going on so people should come and check in with us,” McGee said.

For Ng and his family, their restaurants are a way of giving back to a community that has been so supportive of their restaurant ventures.

While they do make some monetary donations to organizations and groups, it is food that is most often their gift of choice.

Recently they provided appetizers for a Readiness to Learn benefit held at the Whidbey Playhouse. Ng helped prepare mountains of food for last June’s Relay For Life event and he often offers food for other groups’ fund-raising efforts.

“I like to be involved in the community and provide good food for the community because I feel the community has given so much to my family,” he said.