A cluster of crimson spheres arrives dangling from a gold tree, each one textured and topped with a tiny green leaf to mimic a lychee. Then a server pours water into the base, sending fog rolling across the table. Subtle, this is not.
The lychee shrimp pearls are a fitting introduction to Blossom by SYC, where owner Shuang “Sherry” Crossland would prefer you not quite know what’s coming. Crack through the crisp red shells, and you’ll find chopped shrimp wrapped around a molten mozzarella center. “You see something that looks like a lychee, but what you taste is completely different from what you expect,” Sherry says. “It’s playful, surprising and very personal to me.”
The gold tree didn’t come from some restaurant supply catalog. Sherry picked it out herself on a sourcing trip to China, along with the clay pots for rice and many of the plates. Born and raised in Dalian, China, she immigrated to Colorado and spent nearly two decades building Asian concepts including Go Fish Sushi and Sushi by SYC. But Blossom brings her closer to home, with a deliberately tight menu rooted in the food she grew up eating. She developed it alongside executive chef Adam Chan, a Hong Kong native who has cooked in Michelin-starred kitchens in Chicago and Hong Kong. Their grounding rule is simple: “The Chinese flavors always have to come first.”
That philosophy shows up plate after plate. Black truffle soup dumplings arrive with silky wrappers holding savory pork broth; the truffle deepens the flavor without stealing the show. Hokkaido scallop crudo takes a lighter turn, with beet-pickled Asian pear and crispy rice puffs bringing acidity and crunch to the melt-soft scallop. Typhoon shelter soft-shell crab nods to Adam’s Hong Kong roots with plenty of garlic and chili, minus the shell-cracking. Even the baby bok choy has a trick up its sleeve, charred over high heat until the edges turn smoky.
Then there’s the seasonal bone marrow clay pot rice, which isn’t exactly a quiet arrival. A towering roasted bone arrives alongside jasmine rice and crisp-edged short rib before a server scrapes the marrow over the top. The real prize, though, requires a little digging: the crackly layer of rice hiding at the bottom. The dessert keeps the performance going. A mold is lifted from the tofu cheesecake, sending salted caramel cream cascading down its sides, while the jasmine tea crème brûlée gives a nod to Sherry’s years with Kung Fu Tea. Mango pomelo sago offers a lighter finish. Even the cocktail list gets in on the fun, with the silk and smoke mixing lychee vodka, mezcal, tamarind, citrus, and Szechuan Tajín.
Sherry’s eye for presentation doesn’t stop at the plate. The dining room layers jade mosaics and pink velvet seating with rose-gold accents and cascading glass blossoms, while sage-tipped chopsticks and blush-dotted glassware carry the details all the way to the table. “It’s the entire restaurant coming together,” she explains. And the latest bit of theater is edible: tableside Peking duck, carved by chef Jian Chen, a duck master Sherry relocated from California. With more SYC concepts on the horizon, Blossom may offer a glimpse of where her restaurant group is headed. But the more interesting story is where she came from.
Food
Chinese tradition gets dressed up a bit, with French technique, playful presentation, and a tight menu where even the bok choy has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Drinks
Lychee, yuzu, tea, and Sichuan pepper give the cocktail list an Asian accent, but restraint keeps things interesting rather than overly sweet.
Decor
Jade, velvet, rose gold, and cascading glass blossoms set a garden-like scene, with enough pretty details to keep your eyes busy between courses.
Price
$$$
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