Lon Symensma

The five best new breakfast spots in Denver

If breakfast means more to you than a cup (or three) of coffee, you're probably already acquainted with the pancakes, eggs and crepes at such perennial favorites as Gaia Bistro, Jelly, Snooze, Devil's Food and DJ's Berkeley Cafe. The latter's sibling restaurant, DJ's 9th Avenue Café, which opened i ... More >>

ChoLon refreshes its menu for spring

Blustering snow and winter temperatures may have blown into Denver this week, but that didn't stop ChoLon from shedding its winter coat and lightening up both its lunch and dinner menus for spring -- swapping out celery root soup for asparagus soup with soy-glazed mushrooms and spring onion, for exa ... More >>

Best Chef: A nostalgic look back at our Best of Denver chef winners

In just a few short hours from now, the Best of Denver 2013 will start hitting the street -- and the web. This year's edition is packed with more than 400 winners (we're still counting). One of the most anticipated categories in our Food & Drink section is also one of the the most coveted: Best Chef ... More >>

Celebrate pork in Vail this weekend

Restaurant Kelly Liken, 12 Vail in Vail, is kicking-off Cochon 555 tonight with a six-course, collaborative menu from five Colorado chefs: Jason Harrison of Four Seasons Resort, Jeff Osaka of twelve , Alex Seidel of Fruition, Lon Symensma of ChoLon and Cochon 555 founder Brady Lowe. See also: - Den ... More >>

Cochon 555 -- the sultan showdown of swine -- returns to Colorado on Sunday

Here's where the pig puns start: Two years ago, at the Ritz-Carlton in Denver, five Colorado chefs -- Alex Seidel (Fruition and Fruition Farms); Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson (Frasca Food & Wine); Kelly Liken (Restaurant Kelly Liken); Frank Bonanno (Bonanno Concepts); and Jennifer Jasinski (Rioja, Euc ... More >>

Photos: Gather mixes craft cocktails inspired by local start-ups

Not every work environment has cocktails on-site, but if your office is at Galvanize, that's one of the amenities. Galvanize, the startup-tech common workspace in the Golden Triangle, has Gather to thank for that. Gather, the on-site cafe overseen by ChoLon chef-owner Lon Symensma, is mixing up ... More >>

Photos: Molecularly engineered water has New York-style bagels on the rise at Gather

With the help of water that replicates the liquid assets coming from taps of New York City, Josh Pollack is now creating what could be the best bagels west of the Hudson River with his and his Rosenberg's Bagels at Gather, the full-service cafe that opened this month in Galvanize. See also: -Gathe ... More >>

Gather adds a new gathering place to the Golden Triangle

Gather, a new community lounge and cafe, opened today at 1062 Delaware Street. The concept comes from ChoLon's Lon Symensma -- whom we picked as best chef in 2012 -- and ChoLon partner Jim Deters, who opened Galvanize, a 30,000 square-foot collaborative workplace in the same historic Rocky Mountain ... More >>

Trends without end: Dining insiders offer predictions for 2013

Makan Malaysian Cafe could turn you into a roti rooter

Photos: Inside Makan Malaysian Cafe

2012 Pairsine Challenge: The ultimate food and wine throwdown

Wine never tastes better than when matched with its perfect food-based soulmate. So when the annual Pairsine -The Taste of Elegance Chefs' Food & Wine Pairing Competition rolls into town, we clear our calendars and start fasting -- because we know that it's about to go down. See also: - Chef and Te ... More >>

Gather, a new cafe from ChoLon chef-owner Lon Symensma, opening soon in the Golden Triangle

A few weeks ago, during dinner at ChoLon, Lon Symensma's downtown contemporary Asian restaurant, Symensma and his partner, Jim Deters, let me in on a little secret: Flow Restaurant Group, the company under which ChoLon is umbrellaed, they told me, would soon have a second restaurant under its belt, ... More >>

Local chefs dish on Denver's dining scene

Lon Symensma, chef of ChoLon, nabs a nod in Food & Wine magazine's "People's Best New Chef" competition

Last March, Food & Wine magazine introduced a "People's Best New Chef" competition to go along with its own yearly listage of the top ten best new chefs in the country, all of whom are introduced at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic in June. Max MacKissock, chef of the Squeaky Bean, was nominated as the ... More >>

An underground gathering of Denver's best chefs convenes at twelve

Two years ago, when I did a Chef and Tell interview with Jeff Osaka, the owner/chef of twelve, I asked him what he'd like to see more of in Denver from a culinary standpoint. His answer was poignant, straightforward and inclusive: I want more chefs working to build camaraderie. Sure, we want to b ... More >>

Part two: Denver chefs reveal what they'd like to see more of in 2012

For last week's "Year in Review," we recapped what the subjects of the 2011 Chef and Tell interviews would like to see less of in Denver. This time, we're serving up their wish lists of what they'd hope to find on Denver's plate in the new year - everything from year-round farmers' markets to whole ... More >>

Part two: Denver chefs dish on what they wish would disappear in 2012

As we've discovered in our weekly Chef and Tell interviews, Denver's kitchen commanders are, if nothing else, unapologetically opinionated. We pepper them with dozens of questions, and sometimes their answers are salty -- especially their responses to what they'd like to see less of in Denver from a ... More >>

Foodography: Stephanie Izard, Alex Seidel and Lon Symensma hosted one of the best dinners of the year last night at ChoLon

Last night, while tottering drunkards, some strapped with clinking beer can necklaces, stumbled by the floor-to-ceiling windows of ChoLon, Top Chef winner Stephanie Izard, who resides in Chicago, Fruition exec chef-owner Alex Seidel and Lon Symensma, the owner-chef of ChoLon, were in Symensma's kit ... More >>

Win two seats to ChoLon's craft beer dinner with Top Chef Stephanie Izard and Alex Seidel

Girl and the GoatSeason 4 Top Chef Stephanie Izard ​It's been a good year for Lon Symensma, the chef/owner of ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro, the leading-edge Asian restaurant that he opened downtown last October.

Photos: Food lust and chef candy from the 2011 Aspen Food & Wine Classic

Lori Midson​The cognoscenti of the food world -- 5,000 strong -- descended upon Aspen this past weekend for the 29th annual Food & Wine magazine Classic, one of the most heralded culinary jubilees in the country, It was a whirlwind weekend of unparalleled gluttony, hangovers, pig parties, cele ... More >>

Food porn from ChoLon's Celebrity Chef tour dinner

The community table at the Celebrity Chef Tour dinner at ChoLon.​Top Chef Angelo Sosa and Lon Symensma didn't make good on their promise to come out in Speedos for dessert at Wednesday night's Celebrity Chef Tour dinner benefiting the James Beard Foundation at ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro Wednes ... More >>

Round two with Jared Brant, exec chef of Satchel's on 6th

Lori Midson​ Jared Brant Satchel's on 6th 1710 East Sixth Avenue 303-399-2560 www.satchelson6th.com This is part two of my interview with Jared Brant, executive chef of Satchel's on 6th. Part one of that interview ran in this space yesterday. Favorite restaurant in America: That's a very ha ... More >>

Bon Appetit calls ChoLon one of the best places in the country for "new Asian fusion"

Lori Midson​Andrew Knowlton, the Bon Appetit food scribe, who, in the fall of last year, named Boulder the "foodiest town" in the United States, is now throwing around the culinary "F" word -- fusion -- in a story that trumpets the top six restaurants in the country to "Taste the New Asian Fus ... More >>

Why we've fallen hard for ChoLon's happy hour

​Happy Place: ChoLon, 1555 Blake Street, 303-353-5223 The Hours: Monday through Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. to close. The Deals: $7 specialty cocktails; $5 well cocktails; $3 beers; $5 small plates. Were we happy? Flip the page to find out.

Pig porn from Cochon 555, aka the Super Bowl of Swine

Lori MidsonCochon 555 chefs Lachlan MacKinnon-Patterson, Kelly Liken, Alex Seidel, Frank Bonanno and Jennifer Jasinski ​ Lard, have mercy on my soul. To say that I pigged out this weekend is the understatement of the year, and if I was porky before, you should see me now. In fact, I'm fairly ... More >>

LoDo restaurants in the limelight at annual awards

The Tavern Downtown is in the LoDo limelight.​Two decades ago, when the first LoDo Limelight Awards were handed out, restaurants were few and far between in lower downtown. But today the restaurant and hospitality industries are the heart of LoDo, and businesses ranging from the venerable Oxfo ... More >>

Reader: Lon Symensma is exactly what Denver needs

Lon Symensma, at home in Denver.​ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro is one of the more than 300 restaurants participating in Denver Restaurant Week. We're collecting diners' accounts of their DRW meals on this post; the best and/or worst stories will win EatDenver decks. In the meantime, ChoLon chef/ ... More >>

Duo and Olivéa pastry chef Yasmin Lozada-Hissom tapped to bake at the James Beard Foundation awards gala

​The James Beard Foundation awards gala, a glitzy, high-falutin' soiree that honors the best chefs, pastry kings and queens, restaurateurs, restaurants and wine directors in the country, takes place on May 9, 2011, at the Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall in New York. And the culinary blowout ... More >>

Round two with Lon Symensma, exec chef of ChoLon

Lori Midson​ Lon Symensma ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro 1555 Blake Street 303-353-5223 www.cholon.com This is part two of my interview with Lon Symensma, executive chef of ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro. In part one of that interview, Symensma rips on bird's nests, extols the virtues of lop chong ... More >>

Lon Symensma, exec chef of ChoLon, rips on bird's nests, extols the virtues of lop chong and admits that his favorite macaroni and cheese is made with Velveeta

Lori Midson​ Lon Symensma ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro 1555 Blake Street 303-353-5223 www.cholon.com This is part one of my interview with Lon Symensma, executive chef of ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro. Part two of that interview will run in this space tomorrow. Lon Symensma talks faster than a ... More >>

ChoLon presents Southeast Asian market cuisine with an upscale twist

See photos of the menu options at ChoLon.

Food porn: Shots from real Southeast Asian markets

Laura Shunk​When I ate at ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro for this week's Westword review, I was fascinated by how Lon Symensma and his partners, Jim and Alicia Deters, had reinterpreted the Southeast Asian market and turned it into a fine dining restaurant. And as I wrote the review, I referred fr ... More >>

ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro channels a Southeast Asian market

Mark Manger​Just 24 hours after I returned from Asia, I was craving the cuisine I'd left behind -- and I was particularly hungry for the food stalls of the markets. So I headed straight for ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro, where Lon Symensma channeled Cholon, the Chinatown market in Saigon, when he ... More >>

New Year's resolutions from Max MacKissock, Matt Selby, Mark DeNittis, Michael Long and twenty-one more Denver/Boulder chefs

Lori MidsonBrad Rowell, chef at Colt & Gray, resolves to eat twenty percent less pork fat per day and replace that with twenty percent more Schlitz​ Haven't made your New Year's resolutions yet? That makes two of us. But instead of focusing on ourselves, we prodded more than two dozen Denver/ ... More >>

Culinary calendar for the week ahead: Festivals, classes and family-style dinners

​Want to stir things up in 2011? There are plenty of cooking classes, parties, special dinners and festivals to help you keep (or kill) whatever resolutions you've made. Here's a taste of what's on Colorado's culinary calendar:

Everything you've ever wanted to know about Lori Midson in 300 words

​Those of you who follow this blog have likely read my weekly Chef and Tell interviews, wherein I pepper local line monkeys with a syllabus of prying questions. We run a condensed version of their answers in print, while the entire interview runs over the course of two, sometimes three, days o ... More >>

Chef and Tell, part two: Zi Fusion's Rhett Songer on more of the F-word, a pompous prick and being wine-drunk

Lori Midson​ Rhett Songer Zi Fusion 7340 South Clinton Street, Englewood 720-934-6402 www.ziasian.com This is part two of Lori Midson's interview with Rhett Songer, executive chef of Zi Fusion. In part one of that interview, Songer dishes on the F-word, racism and sexism and eating a puppy... ... More >>

Restaurant roll call for October

Lori MidsonThe open (very) kitchen at Lon Symensma's ChoLon.​There were major developments on the local dining scene last month, including the openings of ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro and EDGE, the reopening of Frasca Food & Wine -- and the closing of Zona's Tamales after forty years. Our rest ... More >>

Old Saigon at ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

This week in Cafe Society food bloggery: beer, Bon Appetit, Brandon Biederman and ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro

​ Behold the highlights from this week's Cafe Society blog: 1. With the streets of Denver flooded in suds, it's likely that you're well and truly hammered while reading this, but if you can still see the screen without covering up one eye, and you haven't had your fill of hops and barley, the ... More >>

ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro set to open in early October

Lon Symensma will open ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro on October 1​Back in March, I christened Lon Symensma one of the sexiest chefs on the culinary planet, a pronouncement by which I still stand, especially since unearthing a Youtube video of the hot shot kitchen magician foraging for food around ... More >>

Cosmopolitan names Lachlan Mackinnon-Patterson one of the most sizzling chefs in the country

Frasca exec chef Lachlan Mackinnon Patterson​Okay, so here's a thoughtful question: Would you rather get naked and dirty with Lon Symensma, the Denver-bound former New York pretty boy culinary artist who NYeater called a "strong contender for the title of New York's Hottest Chef," or Lachlan ... More >>

Hot New York City chef Lon Symensma opening ChoLon Bistro in LoDo

​ Denver has just bagged one of the sexiest chefs on the culinary planet. Lon Symensma, a former New York kitchen magician with a helluva lot of kitchen street cred and pedigree, is leaving the Big Apple, where he was the former chef of Buddakan, to open ChoLon Bistro in LoDo. "I have decid ... More >>