YumCha Replaces ChoLon in Central Park

Restaurateur Lon Symensma has been making a lot of moves recently. In March, he opened a third location of his flagship restaurant, ChoLon, as well as a brand-new Italian concept, Gusto, near Sloan's Lake.

At the end of July, he shuttered one of his three downtown restaurants, Bistro Le Roux, which shared a kitchen with the original YumCha. At the time, Symensma told the Denver Post that he would “either have to pivot and rebrand Bistro LeRoux" or lose it and YumCha. But YumCha downtown remains open, while the Bistro LeRoux space is still closed.

Now, Symensma has made a big swap in Central Park. After recently closing the ChoLon location at 10195 East 29th Drive, the space reopened this weekend as a second YumCha. The concept "has a fun casual vibe," Symensma notes, with a focus on dumplings and dim sum. Menu highlights include "crispy wings with caramel fish sauce, tempura calamari with Thai cilantro sauce, a section of noodle dishes and a banh mi burger plus Thai iced tea and Vietnamese coffee."

"We’ve been keeping a secret," reads an October 25 Instagram post. "More like a surprise! For those of you who have been asking and waiting for our Central Park location to open back up, today’s the day! ...Same location, different name, and a menu that’s sure to have you indecisive."

Symensma notes that as part of the swap, "We shrank the dining room and kitchen in Central Park to make room for a commissary kitchen that will produce all of the dim sum for our company and the [upcoming] airport [location]," which is set to open this fall.

While diners in Central Park will have to head downtown or to Sloan's Lake for one of ChoLon's most popular dishes, the kaya toast, another is on the YumCha menu: French onion soup dumplings.

Also making a comeback is the location's bottomless soup dumplings special on Wednesday nights. From 5 p.m. until sold out, diners can enjoy endless rounds of French onion soup dumplings, General Tso’s soup dumplings or fried vegetable Shanghai dumplings for $30 per person. The special is also available at YumCha downtown.

YumCha Central Park is located at 10195 East 29th Drive and is open from 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. For more information, visit cholonconcepts.com.