It’s been eight years since a Montclair institution, Silver Palace, closed its doors on Moraga Avenue. The mom and dad who ran it retired, but one daughter kept the memory alive and when the opportunity came along to reopen the restaurant, she jumped on it.

Shirleen Auyoung is the fresh face of Silver Palace, which began a new chapter this week with an open house that attracted fans far and wide. Two crispy roast pigs were the centerpiece of a buffet of offerings on the menu at Shirleen’s reimagined 5 Spiced Kitchen at 6516 Moraga Ave.

“My parents (Martin and Irene) opened the restaurant when I was 13,” she says, “So I practically grew up here. We were associated with the neighborhood for 28 years. We missed it.”

A customer at Bamboo, Shirleen’s restaurant on Oakland’s Piedmont Avenue, told her the old Silver Palace building was for rent, having since been rented by Camber and Lao Tae before sitting empty for several months. She checked it out and quickly signed the lease, all the while remembering the life- changing days she spent there as a child.

“I was 13 when my parents opened Silver Palace,” she says. “I used to just wander around in the kitchen, watch the people fire up the wok, cook, make dumplings, roll out dough for the buns … I just kind of hung out with them.”

By the time she was 16, Shirleen was helping with take-out orders, answering phones and had eventually talked her dad into letting her be a server.

“Back in the day I think I was the only 16-year-old with like 40, 50 bucks in their pocket all the time,” she says.

When her dad wanted to retire in 2014, none of the sisters had time to take over.

“We had children who were young, so nobody could take on a full-time job running the restaurant,” she says. Fast-forward to today, and Shirleen’s children are 10 and 12 — old enough to allow her the time for this new endeavor and passion.

At the new restaurant’s open house, Shirleen’s husband, mom and dad beamed with pride. Friends and family streamed in, bringing good wishes and hearty appetites. And memories of the old Silver Palace blended beautifully with the energy of a new endeavor — a dream come true for a little girl who grew up in a business that was part of Montclair for almost three decades. Five Spiced Kitchen is open for business Wednesday through Sunday.

Around town: Speaking of new restaurants, the former site of Noah’s Bagels will reopen as Café 15 at 2060 Mountain Blvd. Café 15 already has a location on 12th Street in Oakland along with a popular catering service. One item that may catch your attention is their “crazy-popular fried chicken sandwich” made from scratch down to the aioli.

Election news: Oakland mayoral candidates will field questions from 6:30 to 8 p.m. this Friday in a forum at Montclair Presbyterian Church (5701 Thornhill Dr.) Crime and homelessness will no doubt be high on the list of concerns, and citizens can submit their questions in advance online at bayareane.ws/oct21oaklandmayorforum. If you can’t make it to the forum, it will also be recorded.

Candy galore: The Lion’s Club has disbanded in Montclair, which means no Halloween parade again this year. There will be trick-or-treating at the farmers’ market, though, from 11 to 2 p.m Oct. 30. Flair Travel is sponsoring treat bags for the first 300 kids, and several Montclair Village stores will offer goodies. If only the adults could wrangle some free fruit and veggies, the celebration would be complete.

Ginny Prior can be followed on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and at ginnyprior.com. Email her at ginnyprior@hotmail.com.