‘Char Sue’ Brings its ‘Reimagined’ Asian Food to Essex Street this Weekend

Upper Essex Street is a few days from welcoming yet another restaurant to its ranks. Char Sue is just a couple days from debut.

As previously reported, chef and co-owner Matt Rojas plans to serve a menu of “affordable” Asian food with a “Western twist,” plus craft beers, in a casual environment. Dishes include house meats like Char Sue Pork Ribs and Japanese Curry Lamb Necks, and sandwiches like Thai Curry Tubers and Short Ribs.

For the last couple weeks, fill-in-the-blank printouts, alongside ads for social media pages, teased an unknown April launch date. But now we know opening day is set for this weekend – April 15.

The name Char Sue is a manipulation of “Cha Siu,” an ancient Cantonese technique of roasting fork-skewered meats over a fire.

119 Essex Street hasn’t been too hospitable in the years since the smutty Sunflower video store departed. Brannon’s previously held down the fort for a meager ten months before folding in August 2014. Restaurateur Joseph Valentine then sought to install the John Lamb, but abandoned the location in favor of the new boutique Sago Hotel at 119 Orchard Street (where it met the same fate).

Photo: Char Sue’s Twitter