Wow. As if Denver doesn't have enough to recommend it already, along comes a restaurant that easily tops my favorites for the past year with not one but TWO dishes that threaten to become a new obsession for me. So if your travels take you to the Mile High City, put ChoLon at the top of your list.

Unbuckle your pants! Here's a quick tour!

Before ordering they'll bring you a large Vietnamese rice cracker (banh da tom) with a chili dipping sauce. The cracker is fabulous, but it's merely a way to scoop the spicy sauce into your mouth.

We ordered four small plates that were divine. The first was a salmon crudo with avocado. This is so easy to eat, I'd easily put it in the early stages of my "8 Steps to Embracing Sushi" program!Then came the first of my obsessions - the Kaya Toast with "Egg Cloud." The coconut toast is a standard thing in Singapore (supposed to be a hangover cure - recipe here) and it's great. But the EGG was the show stopper The waiter explained the preparation elegantly, but I filed the description as "take a coddled egg and put it through a CO2 dispenser." Um. OK. I was skeptical, but the waiter said it was his favorite thing on the menu. I bit at the upsale and am SO happy I did. You eat the "carbonized egg" (my phrase, not theirs), by swirling little pieces of toast until coated. The method feels as bizarre as it sounds, but oh the flavor!! If you go to ChoLon, you MUST try this dish.

Next up was the Sweet Onion Soup Dumpling with Gruyere Cheese. This was my first experience having a soup dumpling and I am smitten. The concept is NOT that your dumpling comes floating in a soup,my first thought, but the dumpling itself contains the soup.

(How does one MAKE such a thing?! Video here, but the ChoLon version doesn't have a filling, just soup and cheese.)

To eat, you put the pastry in your mouth and when you bite down, it's a little soup party for your mouth. At ChoLon, their recipe tastes like French Onion Soup.

Basically the chef made French onion soup as finger food. Can you imagine this goodness?

I must find an Atlanta spot for this treat. Any suggestions??

We also loved the potstickers, and they added a nice variety to the meal, but next time I'll double down on the soup dumplings!

Next up was the special Black Truffle lamb. I loved this dish, but since it's not on the regular menu, I won't tease you with the goodness. However, suffice it to say you can trust the "specials" as being worth trying.My favorite entree was the Diver Scallops Pad Thai. This isn't your average Pad Thai dish. The picture does the dish right; you can see the scallops are front and center and the pad thai extras are just along for the ride. Delicious!

From The Wok portion of the menu we ordered the Chow Fun noodles, with shrimp, scallops, and sugar snap peas in a black bean sauce. The noodles were wide, melted in your mouth, and the sauce, like everything else in this restaurant. was perfectly balanced for the food. Finally, a dish we ordered twice (and called it "dessert") because we couldn't get enough was - - wait for it - - Brussels Sprouts. The menu says it's made with ground pork and mint, but there's no way something this flavorful doesn't have pixy dust sprinkled all over it. So, so good!

I realize I'm gushing about this place, but I was seriously impressed. Can't wait to go back!

Dining out: Denver's ChoLon