Hot Pop-Up

4 Dallas chefs combine forces for cutting-edge Asian pop-up

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Photo courtesy of Khao

Some cutting-edge Asian food will be dished out on July 26 at a one-night pop-up event featuring a quartet of chefs, each doing their own cuisine. Two of the chefs are from well known restaurants. The other two will preview restaurants that are set to open in the next year.

The known chefs come from Sumo Shack, Wabi House, and Monkey King Noodle Company. They'll be joined by chefs from Four Sisters, a restaurant opening soon in Fort Worth, and Khao Noodle Shop, a restaurant still in the works aiming to open in 2018.

The result for attendees seems likely to be some of the most interesting food you can find around DFW.

The pop-up will take place at Monkey King Noodle Shop in Carrollton, with a theme of Asian street foods, from four distinct cuisines:

Japanese: chef Dien Nguyen from Wabi House / Sumo Shack
Chinese: chef Andrew Chen from Monkey King Noodle Company
Vietnamese: chef Tuan Pham from Four Sisters, Taste of Vietnam
Laotian: chef Donny Sirisavath ("Donny Darkoo") from KhaoNoodleShop

The event was conceived as a way to spotlight up-and-coming Asian chefs, says spokesperson Teresa Nguyen.

"Monkey King owner Andrew Chen had a lot of success with the pop-up they did last year for the Year of the Monkey celebration," Nguyen says. "They wanted a way to showcase other young Asian talents round town. Dien Nguyen, from Wabi House and Sumo Shack, met Donny at a pop-up and thought his food was extraordinary. It was also an opportunity for these chefs to do something off the menu from what they regularly serve at their restaurants."

Chen will do egg rolls in two versions, one vegan and one with brisket burnt ends. He's also doing a dish called ketchup fried rice with Hong Kong-style sausage, which he describes as a "first-generation Chinese dish that probably every Chinese kid that grew up in the States has had at some point in their childhood."

Sirisavath will do "boat noodles" with handmade noodles, and a Lao version of musubi, the Spam sushi item, but featuring handmade Laotian-style pork sausage with sticky rice, served with an eggplant dip, tripe rinds, and veggies. There'll be vegetarian/vegan options for both dishes.

Pham, formerly a chef at Shinjuku Station in Fort Worth, is doing Thit Heo Nuong Xa, aka lemongrass grilled pork skewers; and Chao Tom, aka grilled sugarcane shrimp sticks, which he'll be doing in a truly authentic manner.

"I am planning to set up on the grill as they do in Vietnam, where they stack the meat in a huge pile around the coals and brush it with a thin glaze over the fire," Pham says.

The pop-up event page is here. It will begin at 5 pm and last until everything is sold out. It's first-come first-serve on orders and seating; there are no reservations. All orders will be take-out although Nguyen says there's lots of indoor and patio communal seating.

It's hard to predict the turnout, but as Nguyen observes, 300 people have already RSVP'd yes. "It started out as a family event, but it's getting bigger than anyone expected," she says.

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Closure News

Sylvan Avenue Tavern in West Dallas closes but a new bar's on the way

They're known for their pizza and chill vibe.

Courtesy of BST

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A West Dallas tavern is closing, but that's not the end of the story: Sylvan Avenue Tavern, located at Sylvan Thirty at at 1888 Sylvan Ave. #F250, closed for good on November 3, after three years at the address.

The restaurant-bar opened in the complex in 2021, a spinoff of Bryan Street Tavern, a longtime bar in East Dallas, serving pizza, beer on tap, and a laid-back atmosphere with pool tables and outdoor space.

The bar had been closed for much of August, which owner Joe Hinkson attributed to issues with the landlord. It reopened in at the end of August, only to close these two months later.

"We reopened for football season, but we didn't get the boost like we hoped," Hinkson says. "It was becoming the definition of insanity.."

"It's official this time," he said. "The shopping center is dying. Coopers gone, Craft & Co. gone, Shayna's gone and there's been nothing new since we moved in."

In a Facebook post, he stated that "the complex is dying and we've lost four other businesses prior to us making our decision to close. And now we’ve become the fifth one to leave. We've enjoyed our time there, but without support from the property owners we had call it a day."

Some of the bar's neighbors said that the bar "trashed" the suite, leaving broken glass as well as one of the gas burners open, requiring the fire department to come out because of complaints about the smell gas.

But Hinkson said that wasn't true. "We removed equipment," he said. "Not sure what the spray paint was. It was just residual trash. No vandalism. We left most of the furniture and the beautiful bartop."

Hinkson's attention is on a new sibling, called Fate Village Tavern, opening in the city of Fate at 4970 East I-30, #130 — a center so new, it barely shows up on the map.

Fate Village is set to open in November, with a similar menu, spirit and beer selection, TVs galore, and a large outdoor patio with a pet-friendly area.

"This has been in the works for about a year — we started construction back in June," he says. "We're excited about it. It's going to be a truly polished version of BST, and we will be the only bar in Fate city limits."

They're finishing up construction with includes touches like a pressed tin ceiling and shiplap on the walls, to give the new build space some lived-in character.

"Adam Navan, my partner in Sylvan Avenue, moved to Fate a few years ago, and that gave us an awareness of the town's growth," Hinkson says. "We watched them build out the retail center, called Fate Village, which was an instant success. We approached the developer and one year later, they reached out to us a year later and we signed up."

It's bigger than Bryan Street and they've given it a huge patio.

"We are soooo close — we're just waiting on last bit of furniture and final inspections," he says.

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