"The first question he asked me was what I thought of Vallco, I told him Vallco is a diamond in the rough," Rohde said. "He agreed."

The two men spent hours walking around the 1.1 million-square-foot mall, talking about transforming Vallco into a super-regional center with a downtown atmosphere, large restaurants and international tenants.

Now Wong and his partners, Emily Chen and John Nguyen, are the official owners of Vallco.

Sometime before Thanksgiving Wong plans to open a restaurant similar to Dynasty—Wong's 900-seat restaurant in San Jose—only bigger. Retailers of different ethnicities and products are now scrambling to lease the lower level of the mall, which has been almost completely vacant in recent years.

"We are expecting a very robust fourth quarter," Rohde said.

Wong, 52, is an influential businessman who is well-connected in both the Chinese and Vietnamese communities. He is the owner of a chain of stores called Jade Galore Jewelry & Watch Co., which has stores in Milpitas, San Francisco and Cupertino. He also turned a former Price Club warehouse on Story Road into a Vietnamese-themed indoor mall, Grand Century Shopping Center. His wife, Sylvia Tang, and her father publish the weekly magazine Trieu Thanh.

Still, Wong remains an enigma for many.

Wong has kept a low profile since he took over Vallco. He didn't contact Cupertino city officials and discuss his ideas about Vallco with them until after he acquired the mall. He dismissed the rumor that he would make Vallco an Asian marketplace. He simply said he wouldn't and that was all he had to say.

"It is useless to talk," Wong said in an interview. "It's more efficient to prove myself with action."

That is exactly what Wong has been doing for the past two months. He is busy planning for the opening of the restaurant, which will boast the biggest banquet hall in Cupertino.

"The success of the restaurant is important to me," Wong said. "People will believe I can make Vallco successful once they see the restaurant is doing well."

That he doesn't want unnecessary attention is another reason Wong keeps a low profile.

"As a Chinese saying goes, big trees attract wind," Wong said in his native Mandarin language. "If you are famous, people will envy you or criticize you."

In that aspect, Wong is very typical of a Chinese merchant, always cautious, calculating and courteous. He often conducts his business meetings and interviews over lunch or dinner at Dynasty.

"Lunch and dinner are the only time he can sit down and talk," said Wong's wife, Tang. "Alan is a multitasking workaholic."

At a recent dinner business meeting, Wong talked to a business friend in Cantonese over his ever-jangling cell phone, reviewed the blueprint of his new restaurant and urged the guests to get more Chinese roast garlic chicken while following every word of the conversation between the guests.

"Alan is fast-faced," Rohde said. "He just keeps moving and moving. That's good. That's how you get things done."