Twin Dragon to close after 47 years

BY NINA JOSS NJOSS@COLOADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM

Within 15 minutes of opening on the morning of Friday, March 21, the Twin Dragon was bustling with activity. Owner Shiou Je erson prepared takeout orders and seated regulars for lunch as the phone rang o the hook.

Any other week, the voices on the other end of the phone calls would have been ordering sesame chicken and crab rangoon for pickup, or giving sta a heads-up that they were coming in with a group later that night.

But this week, the voices on the other end of the phone were calling the Englewood restaurant for a different reason.

“Somebody calls me every day, crying,” Shiou said. She gestured to the front of the restaurant, where her son, Englewood Municipal Judge and former mayor Joe Je erson, was taking a call. “ is one’s crying. I can see Joe’s even having tears. ey love us.”

On April 30, after 47 years of owning and running one of Englewood’s most-beloved Chinese restaurants, Shiou will be retiring. With her retirement, the Twin Dragon will close its doors in a community that has steadfastly supported and enjoyed the restaurant and the relationships built there over the years.

Path to the Twin Dragon

Shiou’s father, a peasant farmer in China, ed to what is now North Korea during World War II. Shortly after that, Shiou’s family was forced to ee again to what is now South Korea, where Shiou grew up.

She attended college in Taiwan, where she studied education and history, and later earned a master’s degree in business from a university in Japan.

“Her whole dream was to go west into the land of opportunity, a beacon of freedom and opportunity and enrichment in the United States,” Joe said.

She was granted a student visa to study at the University of Denver and, once in Colorado, started working at the Twin Dragon as a server. When the owner had to move back to Hong Kong, he saw potential in Shiou.

“ e owner sees … that my mom is hardworking and honest and looking for opportunity and gave her the opportunity to sell her the business,” Joe said.

For a highly-educated woman,