CHOW BISTRO

With love comes respect.  Respect for our ingredients; textures, aromas, colors, complexities of flavors, and how they are presented on the plate.  We source only the freshest, finest ingredients whether in our “backyard” or around the globe to create our memorable offerings.

Previous Chef and Founder Guy Clauson, with strong roots in the Collegeville community, has owned two successful b.y.o. restaurants.  His food has been featured in national food and wine magazines, Philadelphia Magazine, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Mainline Magazine to name a few.  His philosophy has been to showcase the foods he creates by combining elements which complement one another using time honored techniques, innovative ideas, and internationally sourced ingredients.  “Its about how it looks, the way it smells, highlighting the subtlety or intensity of flavor, the textures, and the way you feel once you’ve eaten…the entire experience.”

Guy’s food is a reflection of his life long experiences.  Influenced by both his Swedish and French grandparents, his early childhood included visits to his families’ farm and dairy in Minnesota.  This led to his appreciation of farm to table foods before the concept existed.  His family relocated to Florida where the “catch of the day” literally meant a day of fishing and pan fried snook for dinner.  Guy’s teenage years in Half Moon Bay, California eating fried abalone sandwiches and freshly prepared Mexican foods from local street vendors cemented a life long love of Latin cuisine.  Cooking along side classically trained chefs and an Italian matriarch who did things “the old fashioned way” , to his Japanese mother-in-law who taught him traditional flavor profiles, Guy learned and adapted multiple techniques which he now brings to Chow.   A lifetime of influences and experiences now reflected from plate to palate.