Last night, after a series of soft openings, Lon Symensma and his crew from ChoLon Modern Asian Bistro, which opens today at 1555 Blake Street, hosted a final party that flowed with wine, beer and champagne and strutted dishes from Symensma's Asian-inspired menu.
Everything that came out of Symensma's state of the art kitchen made us hungry for a return visit. And after drooling over last night's food porn, which you can view on the next page, we suspect you'll be speed dialing for reservations.
Exec chef Lon Symensma's grilled pork satay with golden pickles and peanut sauce. Soup dumplings with sweet onions and Gruyère. Loved, loved, loved these. Curried duck spring rolls with cilantro yogurt. A sugar high of butter and chocolate chips that will eventually become chocolate cake served with salted peanut ice cream and toasted marshmallows. Cholon's intensely aromatic veal stock, perfumed with onions. Symensma puts the finishing touches on shrimp cakes straddling lettuce leaves; he serves them with Vietnamese nước chấm. The finished version of the shrimp cakes with lettuce leaves. House-baked brioche buns, which the chef uses to sandwich the pan-fried catfish with herb aioil and turmeric jam, as well as the pulled beef with Raclette cheese and radishes. A ChoLon cook garnishes the chili crab rolls, enveloping charred corn salad, and dotted with Sriracha mayo. Symensma and another chef assemble the grilled pork satay and shrimp cakes. A ChoLon prep cook shows off his perfect dice. Symensma, wielding a $600 Japanese knife, struts his slicing and skinning skills with halibut, which is steamed and served with tom yum broth and wild mushrooms. Symensma's charred corn salad.