Boutique Restaurant: Myers+Chang

Today, I finally got a chance to sample the lunch cuisine at the boutique restaurant Myers+Chang in the South End of Boston. (Be careful if you pop up their website, the music is way loud and way appropriate for the restaurant’s ambiance and aesthetic.)

We (me and a friend, Lise) arrived around 1 PM to a half-empty restaurant, which sort of made sense, as (1) it’s a fairly remote end of Washington Street and (2) the weather was dull and gloomy, not exactly the type of weather that gets folks walking down to this end of the South End. At lunch, there’s no table service. You order at the bar and pick up your food when your number (taped on a mini-clothespin) is called. We picked up a few pots of herbal tea (ginger lemon for me; jasmine for Lise), ordered a bit of everything and found a table. Once I got over the dirty teacups (they were swiftly replaced), we dug into our food. Here’s a breakdown:

• Crispy Spring Rolls – w/ garlic chives, bamboo, shitake mushrooms – were yummy! Lise and I loved the lack of grease; the rolls felt as if they were just rolled and lightly deep fried. Big thumbs up!
• Wok Charred Greens – w/ pea pod leaves – so garlicky and healthy.
• Braised Pork Belly Buns – w/ steamed bao, brandied hoisin, cucumber – really impressed us. The pork was sweetly nestled in a large steamed dumpling shell and accented with the hoisin and fresh cucumber. We could have eaten 10 of them.
• Esti’s Hot and Sour Soup – w/ fresh bamboo shoots, pork, tofu – truly hit the spot. We had been feeling weak all day due to colder weather settling into the area and four hours at Ikea (that’s another story), and the tart, spicy soup felt so comforting.

Before we left, I ordered a little sweet treat for each of us – coconut macaroon clouds. They had pieces of shredded coconut in the center. This was awesome for us; we love coconut. But it did feel weird chewing on pieces of coconut in the center of a puffed ball of egg whites. Still, I’d order two more!

I also couldn’t leave without treating my husband to a few delectables. I brought home some of the aforementioned, along with the Tea-Smoked Pork Spare Ribs, Dan Dan Noodle Salad, and White Rice. My little nibbles of each have been fruitful; I love it all. I plan to gently warm it all up and let him have a little Chinese feast tonight… Joanne Chang’s version, of course. Here are some photos of the takeout food.

First, very cute packaging! Gotta love a restaurant that loves pink.

Sweet, yet clunky black Chinese take out boxes with pink stickers.

After opening this box, I couldn’t wait for the hubbie to get home; I had to sample one of the Tea-Smoked Pork Spare Ribs, and they were tender and flavorful.

I love Dan Dan Noodles, and this restaurant’s version of a Dan Dan Noodle Salad was rich and refreshing – chunks of peanut sauce goodness mixed with bright cucumber, celery, parsley and lime.

This hot and sour soup made me feel like perhaps I wasn’t developing a cold after all…

Easy paper menus with a great pink font and the tail of a pink dragon…

Myers+Chang is located at 1145 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02118; 617-542-5200. (They’re at the corner of Washington and Berkeley Streets.)