The seasonal residency, he’s calling Gazebo, features a three-course dinner ($80 per person) that is “fueled uniquely on olive oil from his wife’s family field in Greece,” per a statement. The prix fixe includes dan dan noodles dressed with cherrystone clams and pancetta, lion’s head meatballs, and whole-tail lobster toast with Hainan-style lobster claws over rice. It’s a switch-up from Flower Shop’s typical menu, a lineup of maitake rigatoni, shrimp tacos, and pan-roasted cauliflower steak. Gazebo runs from June to September, on Wednesdays to Fridays, with seatings at 7 p.m. or 9 p.m. Its inaugural night, Wednesday, June 11, is already sold out.
“I’m definitely looking for a space,” says Huang, who’s condensing his current search to a 20-block radius of LES to Tribeca. But because of uncertain economic times, “it’s silly to sign a lease right now,” so he doesn’t anticipate an opening until 2026.
In the meantime, the pop-up marks Huang’s culinary return to his all-time, “til-I-die” neighborhood in New York. Two years after its LES debut in 2009, BaoHaus relocated to the East Village into a storefront off of Union Square, until 2020 when it closed during the early days of the pandemic (there was also briefly a BaoHaus Los Angeles, which is also now closed). Xiao Ye, another Lower East Side endeavor, also closed after a short run. In the past five years, Huang has not publicly put his name behind another New York restaurant, focusing on the entertainment world.
He’s officially a NY resident again, having moved back from LA with his wife and toddler this year. “The wildfires were a sign to go home,” he says. The Hollywood industry can quickly become a complacent one, he adds. “You get kind of sick waiting around for the phone to ring,” he says. “Restaurants and food are the things I love. So it’s nice to come back to do physical work.”
Dubbed a “dance music-influenced” menu, Gazebo refers to the Beirut-born, well-traveled singer who rose to fame during the Italo-disco music craze of the 1980s. Huang specifically pays homage to his first hit single, “Masterpiece” — a hit in Euro-Asian dance circles — which was released the same year he was born (and one he now sings to his son every night), according to his personal Substack.
Look for menu changes each month, which include the results of recent experimental dishes he’s been working on at home. A quesadilla was a “happy accident,” he says; the only way his son would eat his Iberico and clam stew is if it joined forces with his favorite food.
“So many people serve raw seafood on a plate,” says Huang, and his Peruvian-style ceviche stands out with Hokkaido scallops, Marcona almonds, and tiger’s milk, which speaks to his time with Lima’s legendary chef Javier Wong.
There’s a reason for this particular pop-up location. Flower Shop opened in 2017 with big-name money behind it: Original investors included skateboard legend Tony Hawk and William Tisch, the son of New York Giants’ co-owner Steve Tisch. Huang’s fresh new partnership with the Flower Shop stemmed from a meeting that his NY fashion designer friend, Maxwell Osborne, set up with its co-owner, Dylan Hales (Randolph Beer). Flower Shop, which features a lower-level bar with a pool table, jukebox, and pink fireplace, added a second location in Austin last fall.
A former Cooking Channel and Vice host, Huang detailed his industry-hopping life as a lawyer to chef in a 2013 autobiography titled Fresh Off the Boat. His culinary fame that followed sparked an ABC show of the same name, which starred Randall Park and Constance Wu, and ended after six seasons in 2020. Most recently, he made Vice is Broke, a documentary on the downfall of the media company, where he formerly hosted a culinary show.
Momofuku founder and fellow Northern Virginia native David Chang, who has hosted Huang on his podcast, gave the forthcoming pop-up a shout-out on Instagram last week.
