Chinatown’s Banh Mi Boys sister shop, Lucky Red, is set to reopen

Lucky Red, the Chinatown bao shop from the Banh Mi Boys team, had all the hype it needed to be a hit. Then—just months after its July opening—the takeout spot abruptly closed. A sign posted in the window indicated then that it would reopen soon enough, but the spot’s been dormant since. According to co-owner David Chau, though, Lucky Red is finally set to reopen as a full-service bar and sit-down restaurant in about a month. “The store was kind of rushed,” Chau says of the original launch. “There were a lot of execution issues.” Lucky Red’s bao were too labour-intensive to work as fast food, and the competition—from his own shop a few blocks south and the 416 Snack Bar–affiliated Peoples Eatery on the other side of Spadina—was stiff. The new Lucky Red will serve craft beer and cocktails as well as a Vietnamese-inspired snack menu (with bao, of course). Chau says that other food options might include Vietnamese-style beef tartare, fish sauce chicken wings, southern fried chicken gizzards, grilled squid and deep-fried oysters. Also, for the adventurous sweet tooth: durian pie. “We’re not going to settle,” Chau says. “We’re going to make sure everything is proper.”