CHEF XINH DWELLEY CULINARY MAESTRO THE SYMPHONY CONTINUES

The restaurant is called The Fjord Oyster Bank. The building was formerly a Columbia bank and before that the bank of the Phoenix Logging Company, it still features a stainless steel vault door and the bank safe is a small book and gift shop. My family and many of our customers have reduced the name of the restaurant to 'The Bank' and, yes, it causes less confusion in a conversation than you think.

We opened the restaurant with Xinh Dwelley in the winter of 2022. Xinh was a chef in Shelton, and as you may know, for many years she cooked at her own restaurant, Xinh's, on Railroad Ave. I celebrated several birthdays there—when she had a break from cooking she would cruise the dining room floor and humbly great her guests, checking on them and their food.

My dad would joke at the lack of paprika in the clam dish and Xinh would laugh and laugh. Her food was amazing and if she wasn't cooking that evening we would be disappointed and go somewhere else.

I never suspected that in several years I would be cooking with Xinh in a kitchen four days a week, simultaneously searing three orders of chicken curry and churning cheese and pouring cream into three more fettuccine dishes, all six burners on the stove pumping heat and flashing flames around the tops of the pans, pulling the basket of coconut prawns from the fryer when they turn that golden honey color, dashing soy sauce into the curries and turning the heat off the fettuccines before they separate, calling out for more cilantro because the last of it was used up and tossing tahini dressing into a side salad for the prawn dish."Now we're cooking," Xinh would say while shaking a pan on the stove, flipping over the ingredients and throwing an orange fire taller then herself.

To me, The Bank is a phenomena and it is because of Xinh. I had never dreamt of cooking prior to the restaurant opening, my past attempts of making rice better resemble drywall paste, and I had no sense of creating a balanced flavor from scratch. But we found ourselves running a bustling, slammed restaurant, shucking trays and trays of raw oysters, entertaining guests that once ate at Xinh's and who have followed her to Hoodsport, remembering the good times and satisfying their hunger once again with their personal legend and friend.

Anyone who has worked in a restaurant knows the demanding intensity required to keep things going smoothly: running the kitchen, the food prep, attending the dining room, greeting the guests, washing the dishes, the cleanup, the after-close meals for the team. Every single week was busier than the last, so it was difficult to stay ahead.

The summer of 2023 was straining, to say the least, and we were still figuring out the basics. Xinh knew, however. She knew when the kitchen would need more minced garlic before they realized they had ran out (she was seated by a hallway from the kitchen to the dining room and as she watched the plated food go by she could predict what ingredients would be used up fastest). She knew the stress and the hardships my family experienced and she knew how tired we would be at the end of the day—but she kept us sane and working. At 11:30 PM when the floors were washed and the lights shutting off, Xinh would be chopping away, dicing potatoes for the chowder. "They're not gonna chop themselves, honey." None of us could get away with feeling tired when a 73 year old on chemotherapy could keep going without complaint.

The Bank closed for renovations in October of 2023—we had been working with engineers over the summer to build out a commercial septic system that would support a permanent kitchen and provide for ADA compliant bathrooms for our customers (no one likes port-a potties). Nearly a year later after many ridiculous delays due to our over-regulated systems, we will finally be re-opening. Although the completion dates are still undetermined, we hope construction and inspections will be finished in September.

As excited I am for a new kitchen, I am saddened. Xinh passed in November 2023 from colon cancer. It was the most unexpected, expected event I know of. She fought cancer for many years, but it never slowed her or her spirit down. When someone is so full of life and energy it is difficult to doubt their health, or to see that it could ever be compromised.

When the restaurant was open, Xinh didn't like to drive at night. Everyday myself, my mum, my dad, or my sister would drive to Steamboat island and pick Xinh up, then drive to Hoodsport to start the day with prep. Rarely would Xinh stay home from illness.

Her medication was unpredictable and its side-effects were sudden. Within a 40 minute car ride she often went from feeling fine to extreme nausea, but she would battle on and outwork her sickness, refusing to go home or quit.

Cooking was her life-force, it fed her soul. Xinh was cooking dinner with us at my home only a week before she passed, she was laughing and teasing.

I don't look forward to missing Xinh at the Bank. I will miss the car rides to and from her house, I will miss her lectures and the lessons she gave me, and the deep conversations about life while chopping vegetables.

I know she would be proud of the restaurant's reopening. The menu, the cooking style, the food prep, will go unchanged. The food will stay as exact as we can manage to Xinh's expectations.

We hope to continue on in memory of an amazing individual, the restaurant and the food we cook being a tribute to our lost friend.