Update: Expansion approved.
The owner of jm Curley's and the Wig Store Lounge on Temple Place hopes to expand down the street by opening a new "fast casual" Korean place and a "fine dining" sushi restaurant where diners would be serenaded with music from actual records on a record player - hi-fi records, "so it would be a hi-fi lounge," Curley's attorney, Stephen Miller, specified at a Boston Licensing Board hearing this morning. Read more.
The Boston Licensing Board voted today to let Kazuhiro Aotani, who operates Boston Ramen Co. in Harvard Square, open a new ramen outlet called Sushi by Bosso Ramen Tavern at 163 Newbury St. in the Back Bay. Read more.
The Boston Licensing Board today gave Matsu Nori Handroll Bar, 900 Beacon St., the right to allow customers to bring their own beer and wine. Read more.
The Boston Licensing Board today gave Tori Japan permission to move into the space where Crab du Jour replaced the Pizza Hut that replaced the Taco Bell, in the America's Food Basket mini-mall at at 950 Hyde Park Ave. in Hyde Park. Read more.
The Boston Licensing Board today approved letting a Japanese restaurant on Boylston Street near Mass. Ave extend its hours to 2 a.m. - and approved a new Indian place a couple doors down that also plans to stay open until 2 a.m. Read more.
Update: 2 a.m. closing time approved - for both this place and an Indian place a couple doors down.
The Boston Licensing Board decides tomorrow whether to let Tori Japan, 1110 Boylston St., where Teriyaki House used to be, stay open until 2 a.m. to serve the ravenous needs of nearby college students who think nothing of staying up until all hours. Read more.
Patrick Maguire reports that Japonaise Bakery & Café, on Beacon Street on the Brookline side of Audubon Circle, expects to re-open in 45 to 60 days. Owner Takeo Sakan closed it in 2021 for the first extensive renovations since it opened in 1985. He started a GoFundme page both to help pay for the new equipment and to help support the staff during the closure.
Hayashi Sushi has opened at 125 Washington St. just before the Incinerator Road entrance to the Dedham Mall on the southbound side. Read more.
The Japanese consulate has organized a ramen crawl for Friday - get ramen at the listed noodle joints in Boston, Cambridge, Somerville and Medford and collect stamps - when you get five, that's enough to get a T-shirt proving that the day after Thanksgiving, you ate a lot of ramen.
Richard Auffrey vows to return to Momosan Ramen at Hub Hall, where he went for lunch recently:
The Karaage ($12) is Japanese-style fried chicken with a spicy garlic soy sauce. ... First, this dish was ample, with plenty of pieces of fried chicken, and was large enough to share. Second, the fried coating was crunchy and flavorful, enhanced by the spicy garlic soy. There was plenty of moist chicken inside the crisp coating, and the dish definitely is near the top of my favorite karaage dishes.
A Connecticut chain that serves Japanese ramen and Vietnamese pho wants to open its first Boston restaurant at 44 Thomson Pl., but the Fort Point Neighborhood Association is asking the Boston Licensing Board to scale back its proposed 12:30 a.m. closing time to a more Boston time of 11 p.m. Read more.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports the space now occupied by Oishii is for sale. That includes the indoor waterfall.
The Globe reports that Eastern Standard, Island Creek Oyster Bar and the Hawthorne will be replaced by brasserie, seafood and sushi "concepts" run by some New York concern that runs other "concepts" in places like Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports that Teriyaki House, 1110 Boylston St., around the corner from Mass. Ave., will be closing forever on March 27.
Mariebmorris reports a small sign posted to the door of Sakurabana, 57 Broad St. downtown announces its closing, that after 36 years in business, Covid-19 made it impossible for owner Hironori Koga to keep going.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports the under-construction Arsenal Yards (where the Arsenal Mall used to be) will be the first US home of Tori Jiro, a yakitori chain that also serves fried chicken and chicken meatballs for people who don't prefer their chicken in small bites and roasted on skewers.
The Dorchester Reporter reports the owner of Van Shabu want to concentrate on a couple of suburban restaurants for now.
UPDATE, 8/29: Mess cleaned up, restaurant cleared to re-open.
A Boston health inspector shut Totto Ramen, 169 Brighton Ave., today after a sprinkler burst, sending sprinkler water all over the kitchen - from a large container of tripe stew to cutting boards and other food-prep surfaces to walls.
The restaurant can re-open once everything's been cleaned up and the kitchen passes a re-inspection.
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