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Above, Xinh Dwelley holds a geoduck. Above right, she shows her oyster
shucking
skills. Below right, she befriended celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain, who
spent a
week in her restaurant kitchen in Shelton.
Courtesy photos
Thursday, November 30, 2023 — Shelton-Mason County Journal — Page 9
Xinh: Downtown Shelton restaurant opened in ’96
continued from page
“A thousand other custom—
ers will probably say this too,”
Seeley wrote. “Xinh would
come into the dining area and
flash her warm smile, and ask
if there is anything she can do
for us. A talented and caring
professional.”
“We ate there as often as
we could, and she never failed
to come into the dining room
to check on her clientele, with
her radiant smile.” wrote Teri
Fiscus Christensen. “We lived
and ate in Seattle restaurants
for many years before moving
here, and her food put most of}
those restaurants to shame.
We were blessed to have her
here, I’m so sorry she’s gone
— but I’m glad she no longer
suffers. Thank you Xinh, you
spoiled us!”
“I was sorry that her res—
taurant closed; it was one of
the few places where I could
have geoduck,” wrote Lee
Rentz. “And yes, she came into
the dining area to ask how we
liked the meal. It was a won—
derful part of Shelton for a
long time.”
BEGINNINGS
Born in 1951, Xinh was
raised on a rice farm near
Saigon in South Vietnam. As
a teenager, she was hired to
cook for officers in an Ameri-
can mess tent and soon was
renowned for her fried chicken
and hamburgers. That’s Where
she met her first husband, a
US. Army serviceman who
was wounded.
“That’s where she started
to learn English,” her daugh-
ter Carrie Craighead said in
an interview with the Journal.
“That's why she cussed a lot
she got that from the GIs.”
When Xinh was 19, the
couple married and moved to
Olympia in 1970 with their
infant son. She lost all contact
with her family for a long time
after North Vietnam took over
her native country in 1975;
,she would return several
times decades later.
Xinh picked blueberries
and mushrooms. dug clams
Rachel Hansen, owner of Explore Hood Canal
and Fjord Oyster Bank, who ass/sled
in publishing and editing X/‘nn ’s cookbooks
and sold egg rolls at the farm-
ers market while taking
classes in the evening to learn
English. She started shuck—
ing oysters at a company that
became Taylor Shellfish. The
company recognized her cook-
ing talents and employed her
to cook for management and
VIP guests.
From 1989 to 1992, Xinh
won the West Coast Oyster
Shucking Championship, im-
proving her time each year.
The male competitors “didn’t
like it all because all ofa sud-
den there was a woman and
she was winning,” her daugh—
ter said.
In 1996, Taylor Shellfish
opened Xinh’s Clam & Oyster
House in downtown Shelton.
Xinh cooked for, and be—
friended, chefs including An—
thony Bourdain and Andrew
Zimmerman. In 1995, she was
invited to cook oysters for one
her idols, chef and TV per-
sonality Julia Child. She was
amused to watch Child at— '
tempt to open an oyster with
a butter knife. “She absolutely
loved Julia Child,” her daugh-
ter said. '
In 2006, Xinh was featured
on an episode of the TV series
“Dirty Jobs,” where she dem—
onstrated the cleaning and
preparing of geoduck. She was
also hired by Red Hot Chili
Peppers lead singer Anthony
Kiedis to make dinner for him
and his wife. '
Xinh’s second husband Ste-
phen Dwelley died in 2017.
Two years later, Xinh closed
her restaurant while battling
cancer.
RECENT YEARS
In December 2021, Xinh
sat down with reporter Matt
Baide for her final interview
with the Size/to/i-llilason
County Journal. She was pro—
moting the publication of her
second cookbook, “Xinh’s F la—
vors With Friends.” Here are
some excerpts:
“The second one, when we
were talking about it, Rachel.
(Hansen) and I, I had to go
back to chemoitherapyl again.
She asked ‘How about we do
a second cookbook?’ ” Xinh
said. “We do some meals and
some recipes that you do best;
I put my head together and
we test it where I write down
everything and I always come
up with the recipes and I’m
pretty good at it. This is re-
ally craiy because I go to sleep
thinking about the recipe
and wake up thinking about
what fillings and all this stuff,
something crazy inside my
head is always thinking about '
what makes food taste better.”
“I feel really proud and
happy because you know
what? People are so happy
and they support me and buy
all my cookbooks and they’re
happy to cook. I don’t want
the cookbook to go home so
people can just chuck them in
a corner. I want to do some—
thing good. That’s what I’m
doing and I’m grateful.”
“I tell myself, I feel like Ju-
lia Child in Shelton. It’s a tiny
town and I do well and I’m
happy and I’m g‘ateful for all
of that”
“I want to pay it back to
the community and the people
while I can. Things turned
out really good for me and I’m
really proud of what I can ac-‘
complish because you know,
over the years. I worked all
the time but bei ween work
and stuff, I still do fund—
raisers and things on the
weekend. I think now that
I’m retired, Ijust want to be
healthy enough so I can do
more. Unfortunately, you
can’t predict your destiny I
live halfway between Olympia
and Shelton, but all my heart
and my business is in Shelton.
I love Mason County and try
to support whatever happens.
If I can help, I will help.” ‘
Rachel Hansen, coordina-
tor of Explore Hood Canal
& south Puget Sound, was
instrumental in preserving
Xinh’s culinary legacy. Han—
sen and her family for years
celebrated special occasions
at Xinh’s restaurant. The two
met in 2010 when Xinh vol-
unteered to conduct a cooking
demonstration at the Mason
Area Fair.
“When she closed her res-
taurant, she was super, su—
per ill,” Hansen said in an
interview with the Journal .
“She was convinced she‘was
dying.”
Hansen’s family sponsored
the publication oinnh’s first
cookbook, “Xinh’s Pacific
Coastal Flavors” in 2019,
which Hansen edited. Xinh
dictated recipes for Hansen
to put into words for the sec-
ond, “Xinh’s Flavors With
Friends.” A revised edition of
the first book was published ‘
this year.
Xinh created the menu for
the Hansens’ Fjord Oyster
Bank in Hoodsport.
“Her legacy is she always
treated everyone like she
loved them She felt she
has to be there for everyone,”
Hansen said.
A week before Xinh died,
she prepared a dish of salmon
topped with shrimp at the
Hansen home. “She was the
messiest cook ever,” Hansen
said with a laugh.
“She was creating to her
last day."