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May 27, 2004
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May 27, 2004 |
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Chinese eatery to open this summer
When Jenny (Jackie) Chen opens the Chen Dynasty restaurant at 126 Dayton Street in July, many people will have already experienced the cheery, seemingly unstoppable energy that enables her to accomplish her goals. Last week Chen, who has operated numerous Chinese restaurants, including one in Springfield, and her partner, Yellow Springs native Gaylord Harris, stood between the newly installed industrial freezer and the rubble in the back that will soon be a professional kitchen, to talk about what they envision for Yellow Springs’ first Chinese eatery. “Healthy cooking” was the first thing Chen wanted to stress about her food, which she prepares with authentic Szechuan and Hunan sauces that her family taught her to make back home in Taiwan. “All our family, when we grow up they try eat healthy, not pay doctor for medication,” Chen said. “How you eat very important, if you eat healthy, everything come out right.” Chen’s restaurant, at just 1,400 square feet, will focus on carry-out business with a broad menu of traditional stir-fried meat, vegetable, rice and noodle dishes. Though Chen plans to offer familiar dishes, such as General Tsao’s chicken, sweet-sour pork, Kung Pao beef and vegetable lo mein, she is confident that the way she cooks is “fresher,” “healthier” and just “better” than other Chinese restaurants. “You see,” she said. The small area she plans to use for seating will get a lot of personal attention from both Chen and Harris, who plans to manage the business. They like to get to know their customers because seeing the satisfaction on their faces after eating a good meal is their greatest joy, Chen said. “The best feeling is that customers come and eat exactly what they want,” she said. “I’m so content to see their smiling face walk out. That’s the most you feel accomplished.” Chen, whose given name Lan-Jen means precious orchid, is anything but fragile and scarce. At her restaurants, Chen is the designer, builder, marketing director, hostess, chef and janitor. She stands not much over five feet, but her broad smile and fiery talk communicate an unmistakable commitment to hard work and determination. After scouting out 15 other options in the Dayton/Springfield area, Chen chose to locate her business in Yellow Springs, convinced, she said, that the size of the village and its potential affinity for hot sour soup and sesame beef was the most appropriate match for the available building space. Chen has over 15 years experience in the business, guiding her to spot an area with potential. As a single mother intent on providing the very best for her child, Chen moved around a lot with her daughter, Wen Smallwood, to invest in the right place at the right time and make a good profit. She has opened just under a dozen Chinese restaurants around the Midwest and has also worked as a restaurant consultant for other business owners. Smallwood followed her mother to Wisconsin, Michigan, Virginia and Washington, D.C., until she went to college and began traveling with the U.S. Olympic rowing team. At that point, Chen began following her daughter to Tennessee and Atlanta, if not opening restaurants then guiding others on the matter. When Smallwood got married a few years ago and moved to Australia, Chen said, she felt satisfied that she had done her job well. She feels ready, she said, to settle down and stop working so intensely. She sold her latest businesses, the Jackie Chen King Buffet in Springfield in 1999 and a 10,000-square-foot Chen Dynasty in Bellefontaine last year, and decided to downsize and operate one small business in Yellow Springs, just a 10-minute drive from her home in Springfield. The lease she signed in March with property owner Lisa Mullen is a five-year contract with an option to renew for another five years. Depending on how business goes in Yellow Springs, Chen said, she can see herself staying for an extended period here. However, planning ahead is always in her nature, and talk of one day opening a chain of restaurants in southwest Ohio and the tri-state region lurks not far below next week’s appointment to install the new sink.
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