I visited at lunchtime on a Saturday at lunch. Walked in, and three staff was around, were completely ignored, and left. Done.
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Re Laughing Monk and $$$ - thatās why Iām not likely to prioritize it. Amarin, Lemon Thai, and Krua Thai are all really good, and less expensive, and the first two are super close. I havenāt been to Little Spoon but will put it on the list!
I canāt tell what restaurant youāre talking about?
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I canāt understand which restaurant Ferrari328 is talking about, either. I would like to know!
Boon Noon Market in Arlington. Thought I replied to that post.
I was afraid that was what you meant, as Iām anticipating this restaurant eagerly after reading the Globe piece. Your reply was actually to the June openings/closings thread, so we couldnāt tell. Thanks for clarifying.
Has anyone successfully eaten at Boon Noon yet? We may bike over and give it a try for Fatherās Day.
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I had a smashing first visit here. Super-cool little Thai market with a crazy selection of concentrated curry pastes from unfamiliar-to-me corners of Thailand, like one with fermented crab. I imagine my whole place being stunk up in a good way just by cooking with a thumbnail-sized smear from one of those little tubs. Longer on shelf-stable than fresh ingredients at the moment, but lots of items I donāt see in the tiny Thai sections of my Chinese and Korean supermarkets.
A very promising first lunch: ua lao, a Northern sausage (chef is from Changmai or thereabouts) that reminded me a bit of sai ua, fermented and porky, described as an Andouille, nice chili fire by itself. A sweetly funky flavor I donāt see much in the States. The set included skin-on roasted peanuts, dried chilies, fresh cilantro and pickled ginger slices.
Kui chai, chive pancakes cut into triangles, had a fine fry job and the expected sweet brown dipping sauce. Good of its kind, but not so hard to find elsewhere locally.
Spicy basil eggplant with vegetables was delicious, fresh, solid ā served with excellent purple jasmine rice, Iām guessing that Riceberry hybrid. The kitchen is already leading with modest spice levels after shocking some locals with traditional Thai heat. A condiment caddy with dried, fresh and pickled chilis, nam pla prik, sugar, etc. would be welcome.
Overall, impressed with the amount of earnest, traditional excellence concentrated into this small storefront: the operators seem like lovely people, too. Iām going back soon and bringing friends to work through the menu. An exciting first look!
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Thank you for the review, we are hoping to try for lunch next week.
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Gourmet Dumpling House announces it will close its doors in Chinatown after 15 years
By Brittany Bowker Globe Staff,Updated June 22, 2022, 1 hour ago
Mini juicy pork dumplings at Gourmet Dumpling House in Boston. The eatery, located at 52 Beach St., has made regular appearances in online travel guides and best-of lists, and in 2013 it was included in Travel & Leisureās list of the best Chinese restaurants in the US.THE BOSTON GLOBE/GLOBE FREELANCE
Beloved Chinatown eatery Gourmet Dumpling House has announced that it will close its doors after 15 years.
In a post shared through Google, the celebrated restaurant said it would be shuttering its Boston location on July 1 ādue to the lease term.ā The announcement noted that the restaurantās Cambridge location will remain open.
āDear Beloved Customers,ā the post reads. āAfter 15 years in business, due to the lease term, we are so sorry to inform you Gourmet Dumpling House will be closing its operations July 1, 2022. Thanks to all those who have supported Gourmet Dumpling House over the years, we are extremely proud of all that we have accomplished in these glorious years and [we are] more thankful to those who have believed in us.ā
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Owner Ed Chen opened Gourmet Dumpling House in 2007, and over the years, the restaurant often had a line out the door. The eatery, located at 52 Beach St., has made regular appearances in online travel guides and best-of lists, and in 2013 it was included in Travel & Leisureās list of the best Chinese restaurants in the US.
āWe got so emotional when we see so many touching comments online, you are our families! We will miss you!ā the Google post continues.
Gourmet Dumpling Houseās last day will be June 30. The Cambridge location, called Dumpling House, is located at 950 Massachusetts Ave.
The restaurant could not immediately be reached for comment.
Brittany Bowker can be reached at brittany.bowker@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @brittbowker and on Instagram @brittbowker.
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Thatās too bad, although to be honest, once the Cambridge outpost opened we stopped going there. Still, the closing of a good place is always cause for gloom.
About 3 weeks before the announcement, we were sitting at the bar at Sycamore, and bartender Scott told us (but asked us to not mention it on social media until it was announced). I believe many of the staff are staying (as the new owner is an ex-David Punch employee), and it will be interesting to see what things are kept and what new things arrive. Apparently Dave likes being able to walk between Sycamore, Jinnyās and Little Big and hated having to drive to Buttonwood. Plus Buttonwood didnāt seem to recover from the pandemic quite as well as the other places.
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oh interesting - we LOVE all 4 restaurants. The new co-owner is the chef at Buttonwood and seems to have partnered with a finance guy. Iāll be super curious to see if the menu changes. Buttonwood is probably my favorite of all 4 restaurants, but I would LOVE if they would get a better dessert menu - itās very one-dimensional.
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I had a great meal at Buttonwood a couple of months ago. Wishing them luck as an indie venture!
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