Simone Tong

The Climb

A contemporary restaurant practice built on noodles, spice, texture, and directness runs through Simone Tong’s work. Training at Institute of Culinary Education was followed by time in wd~50 / Wylie Dufresne's restaurant kitchens in New York City, a setting known for technical inquiry and disciplined questioning of form. The throughline is not novelty for its own sake, but a habit of testing how a bowl or plate can carry memory, appetite, and place without losing precision. The noodle-shop format gave that practice a clear working language at Little Tong Noodle Shop in New York City, where Tong served as chef/owner. Noodles, dressings, heat, fragrance, and texture were treated as structural tools rather than decoration. The food’s force came from contrast: bowls designed for savoring, seasoning with bite, and combinations that kept comfort and edge in the same register. Restaurant ownership widened the frame at Silver Apricot in West Village, New York City (2020–2024), where Tong served as chef/owner. The room and rhythm changed, but the craft remained organized around flavor that lands quickly and continues to develop. Across Institute of Culinary Education, wd~50 / Wylie Dufresne's restaurant kitchens, Little Tong Noodle Shop, and Silver Apricot, the work accumulated rather than reset: training, New York City kitchen practice, ownership, and a progressively tighter point of view. That point of view now continues through Sí Baby-Q, where Tong is chef/owner.

Today

Barbecue, smoke, spice, and cross-cultural composition now form the working field at Sí Baby-Q in Austin, TX, where Tong is chef/owner. Central Texas gives the cooking a different heat and landscape, but the method remains controlled: smoke is treated as one element among savory depth, chile warmth, fresh herbs, and texture. Barbecue is not handled as a closed canon here; it is folded into an existing vocabulary of noodles, lamb, seasoning, and contrast. The Central Texas-Style BBQ Lamb Gyro shows that method in a compact form: mala-spiced American lamb shank, pickled onions, cucumbers, fresh herbs, mint yogurt, and flaky roti. The construction depends on clear counterweights. Rich lamb and mala spice are cut by pickled onion, lifted by cucumber and herbs, cooled by mint yogurt, and carried by roti. Smoke, seasoning, and hand-held architecture do the work without requiring explanation beyond the eating. Mala Cumin Lamb Noodles carries the earlier noodle language into the Austin chapter. The dish layers American lamb loin with egg noodles, Taiwanese cabbage, okra, shishito peppers, lotus root, chile oil, and scallions. Chew, snap, softness, heat, gloss, and allium brightness are arranged as a bowl rather than a garnish set. It is built for appetite, but the craft is in the sequencing of texture and heat. Chocolate sits in the same practice as smoke, spice, noodles, and lamb. In Tong’s work, sweetness is another register for balance, depth, and finish rather than a separate lane.

Career - Chef/owner — Sí Baby-Q, Austin, Texas - Worked in restaurant kitchens — wd~50 / Wylie Dufresne's restaurant kitchens, New York City - Chef/owner — Little Tong Noodle Shop, New York City - Chef/owner — Silver Apricot, West Village, New York City (2020–2024) Education: Institute of Culinary Education

Signature

Signature dishes including Little Pot Rice Noodles, Cold Noodles With Sichuan Peppercorn Dressing, Mala Cumin Lamb Noodles, Central Texas-Style BBQ Lamb Gyro, and No-Tomorrow Otoro mark a repertoire organized around contrast. In Tong’s hands, heat works against coolness, tenderness against crunch, richness against acid, and aromatic force against clean finish. Little Pot Rice Noodles and Cold Noodles With Sichuan Peppercorn Dressing place noodles at the center of the craft, not as a neutral comfort vehicle but as a carrier for seasoning, texture, and temperature. Mala Cumin Lamb Noodles and Central Texas-Style BBQ Lamb Gyro show American lamb moving through s