March 15, 2024 | Vol. 53, Issue 5

The only bilingual Chinese-English Newspaper in New England

Food

Việt Citron: Phở, Bánh Mi & More

“We opened Viet Citron because we love cooking for the adventurous and savvy foodies in this community.”–Trân Ngọc Lee At the beginning of the year, a short time before the pandemic began, Việt Citron, a Vietnamese restaurant on Middlesex Turnpike in Burlington, opened. They were closed for a few months and recently reopened, under restrictions due to the pandemic. Since the reopening, I’ve been dining there at least once a week, enjoying its fresh, delicious Vietnamese cuisine. The small restaurant […]

Food for Thought: Hong Cuc Grand Eatery

While in Lowell, we went to Hong Cuc Grand Eatery. They have “take out” only for a variety of Vietnamese Sandwiches (Bánh Mì aka Vietnamese Sandwiches and literally means wheat bread in Vietnamese), plus they have a selection of prepared foods to pick up along with snacks, desserts and drinks readily available for purchase. To the uninitiated, bánh mì are a delicious fusion of French and Vietnamese influences in this one humble sandwich. Usually eaten for breakfast or as a […]

Food for Thought: Senmonorom, Cambodian Restaurant

Senmonorom  1671 Middlesex St, Lowell, MA (978) 275-0024 Senmonorom Restaurant, located in Lowell, Massachusetts, is a simple, no frills place, serving mainly Cambodian cuisine. Their signature dish, the Cambodian Style Yao Hon (hot pot), prevails over their competition in the area. Senmonorom is the capital of Mondulkiri Province in Eastern Cambodia. The restaurant has been around for a while, and you can tell, with the simple but well-worn tables and chairs. Once seated, we got some hot tea and our […]

Food for Thought

Migaku Noodle House in the heart of Brookline Village Since last year, in the former Yokohama Japanese Restaurant space in the heart of Brookline Village, Migaku Noodle House has been serving up the uncommon Japanese Nagasaki style Champon Noodles. It is a cute space with limited tables and now has clear dividers between each table. The space has exposed brick walls with simple décor. Service was attentive and efficient. We started with a small order of the moist cha shu […]

Celebrate ‘World Baijiu Day’

It’s the most popular spirit in the world, with over 11 billion liters produced, and nearly all made in a single country – China. Despite its great popularity, many Americans know little, if anything, about it, and it’s time to enlighten people about the wonders of this fascinating spirit known as Baijiu. Commonly pronounced as “bye joe”, the term derives from two words, bai (‘transparent’) and jiu (‘alcoholic drink’), so baijiu roughly translates as ‘white liquor.’ I consider baijiu to […]

Celebrate ‘World Baijiu Day’

It’s the most popular spirit in the world, with over 11 billion liters produced, and nearly all made in a single country – China. Despite its great popularity, many Americans know little, if anything, about it, and it’s time to enlighten people about the wonders of this fascinating spirit known as Baijiu. Commonly pronounced as “bye joe”, the term derives from two words, bai (‘transparent’) and jiu (‘alcoholic drink’), so baijiu roughly translates as ‘white liquor.’ I consider baijiu to […]

Food for Thought: Delightful seafood at a Winthrop gem – Belle Isle Seafood restaurant

One restaurant on my local must try bucket list is Winthrop’s gem Belle Isle Seafood restaurant. Current owner Jim Costin moved the business from their original East Boston 883 square feet space that served seafood for many years to their current 5,000 square feet industrial digs just over the Winthrop border in 2012. This spot is ideal to get unparalleled views of the Boston skyline, Logan Airport, Zakim Bridge and the Bunker Hill Monument. People travel all over to try […]

In an already vulnerable business sector, Black restaurant owners battle to stay open

At this very moment when the Black Lives Matter movement nationwide encountered the long-lasting Covid-19 pandemic, the situations of small local businesses, especially Black-owned businesses, have been brought to the forefront of public awareness. The restaurant industry in Mass. is approaching $5 billion in lost sales, and 200,000 employees have been laid off since the state government shuttered dine-in business for bars and restaurants March 17, according to Steve Clark, the Director of Government Affairs at Massachusetts Restaurant Association (MRA), […]

Ruby Foo, Chinatown’s first woman restaurateur (Part 2)

Let me continue the tale of the admirable Ruby Foo. Her restaurant in Chinatown opened around 1929 and the first advertisement I found for it was in the Boston Globe, July 2, 1935. The restaurant, known as Ruby Foo at The Den, offered “delicious Chinese Foods” and it was open until 4 a.m. It was said that Ruby Foo originally presented Cantonese food for the Chinese community, but eventually, the quality of her food enticed non-Chinese to dine there. Ruby’s restaurant was […]

Food for Thought

Two sisters offer authentic Vietnamese online ready-to-use dishes By Anna Ing “Omsom” in Vietnamese stands for “rambunctious, rowdy, and noisy” and it is the name of a recently launched “proud, loud dish starters for Asian Cuisine” brand. It was a nerve-wracking gamble to launch a new product during a worldwide pandemic and recession against the advice of their investors. With confidence in their product fulfilling a niche for the rise of home cooks created by Covid-19, Omsom stormed the food […]

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