THE LATE ALAN WAN (left) is shown here with Blayne Bradley back in 2011 when the two first started offering delivery at the Silver Dragon restaurant. Alan passed away suddenly this past August and the restaurant just reopened in March with Bradley taking over the responsibilities of running it.
ALAN WAN (front center) is shown here on an outing with members of the KP Walkers group. The KP Walkers get together twice each week to walk and stay fit, and Alan was an avid member.
After being closed for almost nine months following the sudden unexpected death of restaurant owner Alan Wan last August, the Battle Ground Silver Dragon restaurant reopened its doors for business on March 10.
While Alan’s family still owns the Chinese restaurant, located at 403 W. Main St., in Battle Ground, they decided to have Alan’s good friend and business partner, Blayne Bradley, run it.
“Alan and I, before he passed away, we were talking about me potentially running it (the restaurant),” Bradley said. “Then he passed away. The girls (Alan’s two daughters) knew about the deal going on between Alan and I, and they thought ‘hey, let’s just open it.’ Alan was the owner and he really was the restaurant.”
Anyone who frequented the Silver Dragon restaurant likely experienced the customary greeting each time, by name, with a “hello” and a warm smile from Alan.
“He was a very kind man, he was very generous, I’m going to miss him a lot,” said Alan’s youngest daughter, Phoebe Wan, in a previous interview with The Reflector. “He had a lot of friends in the community.”
Alan, 62, died the week of Aug. 10 after falling off his bicycle while out on a ride with a friend. Phoebe said no one is completely sure how Alan fell off his bike, thinking he might have picked up too much speed going down a hill. She said he was out riding on a “nice country road” with one of his friends.
Alan was well known by many in the Battle Ground community, known best as the owner of the Silver Dragon restaurant for more than 15 years. According to Alan’s eldest daughter, Ruby Chow, her father came to the U.S. from Hong Kong in 1987. Ruby pointed out that her father was actually born a British citizen, as Hong Kong was a British Dependent Colony under British administration from 1841-1997.
After marrying his wife, Amanda, in 1986, Alan moved to the U.S. with his new bride. He worked several different restaurant jobs until finally moving to Battle Ground and opening Silver Dragon with his wife. Sadly, Amanda passed away in 2008.
Bradley said he had known Alan since 1996, meeting Alan and Amanda when he was working as a carpet cleaner in the area and the Wans needed the carpets cleaned at the restaurant.
“I would come in and clean the carpets and they would treat me to dinner and we would chit chat, and we just became good friends,” Bradley said. “I’ve always just been a helping friend. When Amanda passed away, it was a trying time for the entire family and the restaurant. I helped Alan work through his finances and helped get things going again.”
Several years ago, in order to generate some more income for the restaurant, Bradley said he made the suggestion to Alan to start offering delivery. Alan agreed and Bradley contracted with him to deliver the restaurant's food.
Although Bradley said he never really imagined himself running a restaurant, he said he’s happy with the opportunity that Alan’s family has given him to run Silver Dragon.
“I do believe Alan’s been looking down on me and helping me out,” Bradley said. “Almost all of the original cooks are back (at the restaurant) and the head chef, who is my (business) partner, he worked for both Amanda and Alan for about seven years.”
Bradley said he was also able to hire back all of the original ladies for the front of the restaurant who had all previously been working for Alan.
A few changes were made to the Silver Dragon restaurant prior to its reopening this March, including some deep cleaning, a fresh coat of paint on the majority of the interior, some upgrades in the restrooms, a brand new stove and grill, and some improvements to the roof.
As far as the menu is concerned, Bradley said they tried to keep everything on the menu pretty much the same as when Alan was running the restaurant. There are a few subtle changes, however, like a slightly different sweet and sour sauce, some changes to the egg flower soup and some changes to the gravy that is put on the egg fu yung.
The lunch buffet that Silver Dragon was well known for is also now being offered again, and Bradley said he hopes to start offering delivery service again soon.
Bradley said the restaurant was fairly busy during its first day back in business. He said mostly everyone who came in during the reopening day ordered something and tried it out, and shared their happy thoughts and stories about Alan.
“It’s been an interesting, fun road,” Bradley said. “It’s been exciting. The girls (Alan’s daughters) I think are really happy with it. It’s even like giving their dad one last wish to keep it going. That was another reason we wanted to reopen the restaurant, to give the community a little closure from his sudden death. There were a lot of people who attended his memorial and this is kind of like giving him a little shrine that says, ‘hey Alan, we miss you, we know you’re watching over us right now and smiling.’”
Silver Dragon is open Monday through Sunday., 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is available Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Contact the restaurant at (360) 687-7448.
