Chan and his wife, Stella, opened their Baker City restaurant in 1988

Jimmy Chan, the friendly, smiling namesake of Baker City’s longtime

Main Street Chinese restaurant, died Aug. 24, 2009, in his homeland of

China where he had been recovering from a stroke for nearly a year. He

was 64.

Jimmy Chan, the friendly, smiling namesake of Baker City’s longtime Main Street Chinese restaurant, died Aug. 24, 2009, in his homeland of China where he had been recovering from a stroke for nearly a year. He was 64.

Jimmy Chan’s Restaurant at 1841 Main St. has been closed this week, but is expected to re-open Tuesday, said Kevin Chan, who has managed the restaurant for his parents, Jimmy and Stella Chan, since his father’s retirement about seven years ago. His mother has continued to greet and serve customers at the business, except during her annual trips to China.

Until his stroke last September, Jimmy Chan made the trip between Baker City and China about every three months, his son said.

Stella Chan had traveled to China this summer in the hope of bringing her husband back to Baker City. He had been making progress in his recovery from the stroke he suffered last September, but was still too fragile to make the trip, Kevin said.

The Chan family moved to Baker City in 1988 from Portland where Jimmy Chan had worked as a cook. Kevin said his family was interested in the community after learning that the Royal Cafe, which had served Chinese cuisine in downtown Baker City for many years, was closing.

They came to visit, liked what they saw and decided to make the community their home. Kevin remained in Portland with his older brother, Kenny, to finish school.

The Chans first opened their restaurant in the former Royal Cafe at 1910 Main St. Two years later they moved across the street to the southwest corner of Main and Court, where the business has remained for the past 19 years.

Kevin has studied the art of Chinese cooking at his father’s side for most of his life.

“(Kevin) learned to wok before he learned to walk,” says Heather Himmelsbach, the restaurant’s assistant manager.

About 2? years ago Jimmy put Kevin through an intensive training to prepare him to take over as the restaurant’s head cook, lessons that will serve him well now that his father can no longer guide him.

Kevin said his father had high expectations for preparing the food that would be served to his customers.

“He was strict,” Kevin said. “He wanted us to do the best job we could in any situation.

“He took his time to instruct us as well as his could,” he added. “He wanted things done the way he showed you – his special right ways.”

Kevin recalled preparing kung pao beef with too much sauce and his father’s admonishment, “It never should be that runny. The sauce should stick in the plate.

“A cook’s skill is measured by how much sauce runs off the plate,” he said.

One lesson Kevin didn’t learn was how to make the special Chinese herb soup his father would prepare for him as one of his first duties each time he returned to Baker City.

“He said it was good for your skin and good for your health,” Kevin said.

Friends remember Jimmy Chan as a generous man who always had a big smile and loved to joke.

Anthony Bailey, who came to know the restaurateur and his family while working as a CPA, received an e-mail from the Chans’ son, Kenny, who lives in China where he works for Intel, notifying him of Jimmy Chan’s death.

“He was a great friend and I’m going to miss him,” Bailey said.

The Chans became more like family than friends, Bailey said.

“Through the years he’s treated my daughters (Mallory, 17, and Amanda, 14) as if they were his own,” Bailey said.

Chan also doted on his own granddaughters, Chrissy and Lilly, who live in China with their parents, Kenny and Rachel.

Dr. Laurence Levinger also has been friends with the Chans and their two sons since their arrival in Baker City in 1988.

“I thought it was the best Chinese food I’d ever eaten,” Levinger said of the new business in town.

He soon became a regular customer, eating at the restaurant as often as three times a week.

Levinger said a group of about six doctors used to meet for lunch every Wednesday at Jimmy Chan’s.

The menu even includes the “Dr. Levinger Special” and the Dr. Charles Hofmann “Ex-Mayor’s Special” formerly known as the “Mayor’s Special” during Hofmann’s term as Baker City mayor.

Levinger said Jimmy Chan prepared the spicy shrimp dish that bears Levinger’s name especially for him before it was even on the menu.

“One day Jimmy said, ‘you ought to try this,’ ” Levinger said.

He liked the shrimp dish smothered in onions and hot peppers so well that he continued to order it week after week and finally it was added to the menu with his name attached.

Levinger said Jimmy Chan took it as a personal challenge to prepare a dish that would exceed Levinger’s appetite for extremely spicy food.

During Chan’s weekly travels to Portland to buy produce, he’d search for fiery hot peppers.

“He finally got to my level of tolerance,” Levinger said.

Chan prepared other special dishes for Levinger and his friends over the years, including a carp that was served, head, tail and all, on a large platter, Levinger recalled.

Levinger said he also had been hoping that his longtime friend was making a good recovery and would return to Baker City.

“It came as a surprise that he died,” he said. “It’s a shame.”