New Hong Kong-style cafe coming to Lakeside
Chef Antony Gor is opening a new Hong Kong-style cafe in Lakeside. The restaurant will take over the former longtime home of the New London Cafe. (Photo by Mark Nicklawske)
A new Hong Kong-style cafe will take over a longtime restaurant space in Lakeside as its chef-owner moves from hosting special pop-up dining events to a permanent brick-and-mortar location.
Chef Antony Gor has launched plans to open Sōl Cafe at 4721 E. Superior St., the former home of New London Cafe and, most recently, Falastin Palestinian Food. The new fast-casual, breakfast-and-lunch place is expected to open later this year.
The son of working-class Chinese immigrants, Gor was raised in Houston, Texas and as a youth either cooked for himself or ate at the many family-run Asian restaurants in the neighborhood. He was recruited to play football at Macalester College in St. Paul where he worked at a ramen restaurant between gridiron practice and computer classes.
“I grew up around restaurants. I worked in restaurants as soon as I was legally allowed to — and even before that,” said Gor. “I just developed this romantic view of the restaurant industry and I told myself if I was really interested in doing it, I should actually go out and do it.”
The St. Paul ramen restaurant job proved inspirational.
“That might have been the most highly productive time of my life,” he said. “Without a second to breathe or rest, I felt like I was locked in. I really liked the life in the restaurant: The high heat. The intensity. The organization and the chaos. It’s like riding a dragon. I just fell in love with the industry.”
Chef Antony Gor stands outside the home of his future restaurant Sōl Cafe, at 4721 E. Superior St. in Lakeside. He plans to open it this winter.
After a short stint in New York as a computer engineer, Gor moved back to Minnesota and landed in Duluth. He quickly fell into the restaurant scene and staged the first Sōl Supper Club pop-up a year ago at the old Falastin location.
Drake Fiske, the coffee shop manager at Duluth Coffee Company, said after success at the Falastin location, he and Gor worked together to promote four Sōl Supper Club nights in the bigger Duluth Coffee Company Cafe space downtown.
“The response has been great,” he said. “I think people are seeking fun, different flavors in both food and beverages that you’d have to go to the Cities to find.”
Menu items included Japanese curry, pork and cabbage dumplings and miso roasted carrot and aioli. Fiske said Gor is a creative chef who isn’t afraid to take chances.
“I think a lot of chefs just cater to what they think people want. But I think Ant does a good job of bridging what he thinks people are going to like but also what he really cares about.”
Sōl Cafe was born out of the Sōl Supper Club pop-up events staged at places like Duluth Coffee Company and The Bridge Cocktail Room. Events were promoted on Instagram.
Longtime Duluth chef and current Bridge Cocktail Room owner Jeff Zervas worked with Gor at a couple of Sōl Supper Club pop-ups and coached him on food presentation techniques.
“His food is really, really good,” said Zervas. “To me — in the English version of sōl — that’s his heart and soul put into a plate. A lot of his food comes from his past, comes from his heritage, from his family and things that he’s eaten and experienced. He puts his own little Midwestern, Minnesota vibe on that. It’s super unique and really delicious.”
Gor said his new restaurant will focus on new Asian food and Cantonese classics — a style he has perfected the past few years staging the Sōl Supper Club pop-ups. The new brunch cafe will feature a variety of unique ramens along with breakfast items like Hong Kong egg sandwiches, milk-tea and Vietnamese coffee.
“This isn’t going to be like a proper coffee shop, with an espresso machine — and you’re not going to get lattes and cappuccinos,” said Gor. “You’re going to get the kind of stuff that you get at a real, authentic Hong Kong style cafe.”
While Sōl Cafe will be a daytime destination, Gor said he plans to host occasional evening events under the Sōl Supper Club banner. Future expansion to regular dinner hours is a possibility.
Sōl Cafe will take over a space that has been a restaurant for decades including Pepper McGregor’s Coffee House & Cafe and the New London Cafe, which opened in 2004 and operated for 20 years. Falastin Palestinian Market opened to rave reviews at the location in May 2024 but closed a year later.
Gor said he plans to keep the recently remodeled space as is, adding his own personal touches to the décor. A motor scooter is currently propped up in the front window.
“It’s been extremely exciting to be given this opportunity,” he said. “Being a part of this town has been really transformative — people have been so incredibly supportive, kind and generous with me supporting this dream, this little pipe-dream of mine.”