House of Yum

Food editor Amy Traverso handles all our culinary news and views for Boston Daily. Her own space is coming soon…

Myers + Chang, the new contemporary Asian eatery at the cool end of Washington Street, finally opened on Monday night. This was one of the most hotly anticipated restaurant openings of the fall – if you listen closely you can hear a collective sigh of relief coming from the foodies in the South End – both because there aren’t enough higher end Asian restaurants in the city, and because of its origins.

Myers + Chang is the product of one of Boston’s most notable restaurant couplings, Christopher Myers (Radius, Via Matta, Great Bay) and Joanne Chang (Flour Bakery & Café). Early promotional materials, promised “no gloppy sauces. No foams, powders or gels. No ancient Chinese secret. Just fresh, bright, addictive chow and a commitment to offering great neighborhood service in a super new space.”

And that, at least based on my first visit, is just what it delivers. Tasty Asian classics, reinterpreted in a fresh, fun way. Classic Chinese barbecue pork buns (cha sui bao for you sticklers) are reconstituted as thin slices of crisp pork belly with pickled cucumber slices and brandied hoisin sauce, all wrapped in a round of fluffy steamed bread ($8). Pot stickers come in traditional pork and chive flavor ($10), but also in a lemony shrimp variation ($13) that I can’t recommend highly enough. My Nirvana Chicken ($9) was less successful: too heavy on the soy sauce, without enough promised star anise flavor. But it’s a very impressive debut, and a very welcome addition to Boston’s growing stable of very good (and moderately priced) neighborhood restaurants.