DooWee&Rice open

[bex77]

Anyone tried the restaurant that is taking over the East Asia slot in Powder House?  According to BostonEater, it opened today.  
http://boston.eater.com/archives/2012/09/12/doowee-rice-is-so-open.php

Comments

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

I was about to post, or check if there had been a post yet!

Their website said they'd be doing dinners this week starting today with a limited menu, and a grand opening this weekend, so we headed over tonight for dinner. They seemed busy but not overwhelmingly so - many people doing takeout, tables full but not overfull for eating in (we got a seat right away, but maybe some people opted for takeout after that who would have dined in if there were seats?).

I'm very happy they're in the neighborhood!

Still looks like East Asia inside, only repainted and with the tables rearranged and some new art with cute comic-style drawings of DooWee the cartoon guy (as opposed to Dui the chef.)

Many tasty things on the menu, including stuff for more and less adventurous eaters. The rice is yellow rice, there are several rice plates with chicken, pork, beef, etc in Vietnamese sauces;
a squid salad, fried Vietnamese rolls, crispy fried chicken hearts, bao (not the dim sum sort, these are flat steamed rice breads about the size and shape of soft tacos, filled with your choice of Vietnamese seasoned fillings), french fries, fried whole anchovies... I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the items we didn't order.

We had an order of pork bao, a crispy Vietnamese roll (devoured by my daughter), chicken hearts (devoured by all of us), fried whole anchovies (devoured by zubatac, though I tasted them too and they were awesome), a pork belly and rice plate (good but not the decadent treat I thought it might be). Bao will make an awesome lunch, anchovies and crispy chicken hearts will definitely be things we order again, and I'm definitely trying the chicken and rice plate (apparently peoples' most favorite item so far) next time.

I am no longer sad that we had finally gotten a food truck around the corner from us and then it turned out to be called Greek Festival (and worse still mainly serving french fries and grilled chicken wraps and no church-grandma-made greek finikia or moussaka). Now, we have DooWee and Rice -- this is pretty much awesome Vietnamese food truck food in a storefront around the corner from me!

Though I will miss East Asia very much, it sounds like the owners were ready to retire and did, and I can't begrudge them that. (Overheard at the restaurant: East Asia had been in the neighborhood for 16 years. Which makes me feel a bit old; I moved here the year they opened. )

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Also, the menu will be larger by the time of the grand opening, and the article makes it look like they decided to be open starting at noon this week too even though it's a soft open.

[ron_newman]

I did not know we had a Greek food truck in Somerville. Since I missed the big festival on Central Street this weekend, can I buy baklava from this truck?

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Ron, I'll start a new post for it and tag it restaurants/food trucks. It's in Somerville by about half a block, on College Ave around Talbot St.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

I've been hesitant given my loyalty to East Asia.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

trowa_barton, I encourage you to try them! (however, I encourage you to try them without vegetarian dining partners; East Asia was way more veg friendly.) Pickup may be better than dining in if you are just going to see those walls and tables, arranged in a slightly new way, and think "but the East Asia lady used to sit back there eating her dinner and doing her knitting!" and sniff.

I miss East Asia something fierce already, made even worse by the fact that now Wang's seems to be more hosed than usual when I call for takeout! But this is a totally different restaurant occupying the same convenient space. It's pretty much Vietnamese-American fusion, not really a straight Thai or Chinese things to be found.

It's not DooWee's fault that East Asia's owners were getting old and tired of running a restaurant.

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

'twas a friendly transition.

[trowa-barton.livejournal.com]

My mistake.
I didn't know that East Asia left on their own terms.

[enhf94.livejournal.com]

Chicken hearts were excellent (vaguely battered, fried; not like churrasco style). Not pencil-eraser chewy at all.

Steak and rice was very nice - the steak I had was still pink in the middle, flank-ish/skirt-ish, and good char.

Chicken and rice - fine, safe, and got boring by the end.

[sisterdot56.livejournal.com]

Put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Colossians 3:14

[ron_newman]

You posted this ad for your band as a reply to Tom Champion's Riverfest post as well. I don't see how it is relevant here.

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

I think she's spamming...