When I caught up with Mark O’Leary, current Shojo kitchen-czar and former one-half of the hugely popular Future of Junk Food local pop-up dining series (co-captained with outgoing Boston superchef Sam Monsour, who is LA-bound), he was in the Netherlands.
I asked him what he was doing there, hoping that perhaps he was consulting with the Dutch on some kind of funky new ingredient, considering it was only three weeks ago O’Leary took over culinary duties at the Chinatown-meets-Chinatown in NYC-hip enclave, he chuckled.
“My girlfriend is in the science field and here for an event,” he said. “I’m just tagging along for fun.”
To those that haven’t gotten to sample O’Leary’s wares, his style is known for taking familiar flavors, be they childhood classics or traditional ingredients, and twisting them into something new in order to throw a curve ball at patrons. For instance, while riffing on dishes for the Future of Junk Food, he and Monsour got drunk and started throwing bags of Doritos in a blender to make Cool Ranch Doritos Dressing for a fried chicken dish. “Sam took his passion for local sustainability and it rubbed off on me,” he said. “We can eat good grimy food from our youth but use good ingredients to make it better for us, but still wacky.”
Later, during O’Leary’s Kitchen Kibbitz Jewish pop-up he hosted with founder and entrepreneur Jeff Gabel, they offered things like a Matzo-ball ramen dish, and squid-ink challah bread.
On the new late-night menu at Shojo, which just rolled out, O’Leary said: “The first thing I knew I wanted on the menu were the Wu Tang Tiger Style Ribs. They’re super tender, fall off the bone, and crispy and saucy. All of what you want in one bite of food. Tangy, spicy, sweet.” Besides that, O’Leary says those dining on the cheap will embrace the lack of pretension and focus on making great food at decent prices that will all be unique twists on classics. (Tip: go for the Son of Shojonator Burger, described as “a whole mess, but fucking delicious, and only five bucks”).
“I get bored easy, so the more on my plate the better. And [the Shojo team] have a lot of projects they’re currently looking at, so as they keep evolving and growing, I’ll be doing the same.” O’Leary is looking to give customers what they came to Chinatown for but just a little different. Wacky stuff. I asked for examples.
“Lobster bisque soup dumplings,” he said. “French onion soup dumplings. Why can’t I do a French Onion Soup dumpling?”
You can, sir. You can.
SHOJO ASIAN BAR & BISTRO. NEW LATE NIGHT MENU AVAILABLE 11PM-12:30AM. 9 TYLER ST., BOSTON. 617-423-7888.
