August 2022 Openings and Closings [Boston, New England]

What’s the news?

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The former owners of the ill-fated A Lee 88 in Waltham, Tao and Szu, are opening Little Tao at 1153 Commonwealth Ave, Boston. Opening today. I can’t link to the menu but this should get you there. Click on the See Photos, and the menu is there.

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That’s great news.

Bumped into Garret Harker at Branch Line recently and he mentioned he is working on a return to the Fenway area, opening mid-late 2023, sounds like early stages. Don’t know if it will be a reincarnation of Eastern Standard, but should be destination worthy.

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Does that mean that Taste of Guizhu is gone, or are they sharing the space? That’s the former Wing-It location, and it seemed sort of co-occupied by Wing-It and ToG at one point.

Little Tao’s website is now live https://mylittletao.com/

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Nice little website, and I personally love to see the info on the chef - such a rarity for Chinese restaurants. I definitely appreciate a smaller focused menu, especially for regional cuisines where there may be broader interest in a smaller niche set of foods (no one needs the umpteenth iteration of beef and broccoli). I really wish we had more places like Japan where folks are more comfortable opening specialty food places in smaller spaces so they can just focus on a few things done very well.

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Not seeing any of the dumplings that we loved.

Rubato, in North Quincy, is supposed to have its grand opening this Saturday.

Our Menu — Rubato (rubato-food.com)
There was a quick write up about the planned opening on boston.com about a month or so ago, and there’s a follow up today (courtesy MSN) in The Boston Globe.
In Quincy, a rock star mom’s restaurant becomes her son’s classic Hong Kong café (msn.com)

This is taking over the old Contempo Bakery space at 412 Hancock St.

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Per the Globe, Our Fathers deli is Alston has closed. I had some excellent meals there.

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That’s too bad. Just two days ago I was craving a juicy pastrami sandwich, thought of them, and decided to wait. Possibly it was already too late.

Look forward to trying this my next trip. Cheung fun too!

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Passed by on the way from grocery shopping Saturday but there was a line to get in, and didn’t want to wait. Will have to find a time to stop by.

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Walking around Newtonville we came across 3 new spots I’d not seen reported

Donut Villa - in the old Brewer’s Coalition space

Mochiko Hawaiian- fried chicken and bubble tea - in the old Los Amigos space (they moved across the street to the old Rox space)

Fuji - on Walnut St. in the new Trio complex.

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It appears that Kong Dog, a Korean corn dog spot, is now open in Davis Square. I believe it’s in the old Farmer’s Bounty/iYo space, or at least within a few storefronts of there.

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Fun spot, still working the kinks out for sure. I was happy with my Potato Dog and Kong Fries.

Those prices tho (Fuji). I know inflation and all, but no way in hell I’m paying $22 for fried rice.

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It does seem spendy! I was going to chalk the fried rice price up to the use of the XO sauce, but even the single protein fried rices on the menu (chicken, beef, char siu pork, and/or shrimp) are $20.

For comparison, the fried rice at Umi in Waltham is between $11 (vegetable fried rice) to $16.50 (spicy seafood fried rice) with most falling at $15. The chicken katsu is $24, and comes with salad and white rice. I am using this restaurant for comparison as it tries to cater to business lunch type clients because of its proximity to hotels in the area.