The owners of China Gourmet, 23 Tyler St. in Chinatown, and six alleged accomplices were indicted this week on federal charges that they ran a ring that laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars - some trucked up from New York City at the bottom of shipments of meat and seafood - and collected stolen gift cards, which they'd redeem by buying hundreds of computers and other items at the Apple Store at South Shore Plaza in Braintree. Read more.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports that Salem Lowe at Salem Willows, which has served chop-suey sandwiches for 50 years, is closing forever next month.
The Boston Licensing Board today approved plans by three restaurants on Hudson Street to purchase liquor licenses from shuttered restaurants elsewhere in the city. Read more.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports that Hei La Moon on Beach Street has posted signs on its doors that it'll be moving into the smaller Food Opera food court that is supposed to be replacing Chau Chow City, but which has run into financial difficulties.
Hei La Moon is on the first floor of that old parking garage off the Greenway that a Toronto developer wants to replace but keeps changing its mind about just how to do so.
I'm thinking about a great little dive in Watertown called "Home Taste." Or maybe I'll go all traditional and head down to Chinatown!
Tips are appreciated.
Richard Auffrey details the background behind the sign on Hudson Street for the China Pavilion, a restaurant that hasn't been open since 1990.
Also see:
Scotch 'n Sirloin | Sahara Syrian Restaurant.
Intrepid fact finder Richard Auffrey, though, finds the facts to dismiss the claim by the long gone Bob Lee's Islander on Tyler Street.
Buffet today.
Flaming Grill and Buffet on American Legion Highway (in the Stop & Shop mall) re-emerged today in its true nature as a Chinese buffet. Read more.
Update: Board issues two warnings to restaurant over the incident.
The owner of New Moon Villa on Edinboro Street in Chinatown had to answer a citation today for a Nov. 10 incident in which licensing detectives found three patrons dancing inside while sipping from the bottles of tequila and cognac they brought in with them - half an hour after the restaurant was supposed to be shut due to the state's current Covid-19 regulations. Read more.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports the demise of Chic Chick on Brighton Avenue.
Silk Road Bistro is a Chinese restaurant in Marlborough, whose homepage lists a series of warnings and instructions for picking up takeout these days, including stuff you'd expect - when you get there, ring the bell and announce your name, step back 10 feet, then wait for your food to be placed on a table at the door and wait for the worker who brought it out to step back. "DO NOT attempt to grab the food out of our hands." And then: Read more.
Mandarin Gourmet, at the Putterham rotary, announced today it's re-opening Monday, for takeout only. It had closed last month for Covid-19 reasons.
WBZ interviews the owner of Kowloon in Saugus and a North End restaurateur about life after the shutdown ends - and how they're thinking about how to adapt to reduced seating capacities.
Richard Auffrey looks into claims that the chop-suey sandwich was invented in Massachusetts, possibly at Salem Willows and declares the claim unlikely after finding ads for places across the country serving the sandwich around the same time.
Boston Restaurant Talk reports the Beach Street restaurant, which closed last fall, is open again, although with a bit of a different menu, and readers must understand how hard it is for the UHub staff not to try to turn this whole thing into a Jimmy Durante reference.
WBUR reports, notes something similar happened during the SARS scare in 2003 - at least until Mayor Tom Menino went on a walking tour of the neighborhood and didn't get SARS - that Chinatown is no more at risk from the new coronavirus strain than anywhere else and that you're far, far more likely to get the flu, which can also be fatal.
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