Chef Tiffani Faison, who found success on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and at Fenway’s Sweet Cheeks barbecue parlor, plans a Southeast Asian-inspired restaurant at 1363 Boylston St. Tiger Mama will take over the old Happy’s and Barrio Cantina space run by Michael Schlow.
She and wife Kelly Walsh are frequent travelers to Southeast Asia, and the menu will capture their jaunts to Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and beyond, where they ate mainly at street food stalls. “It was the first trip we took when we met, and I still think that area has some of the greatest food in the world. The spices, the acid — it blew us away,” she says.
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The menu is in development, but Faison plans fresh, original interpretations of classic dishes like pad Thai. “I didn’t learn these growing up in Bangkok at my mother’s knee,” she laughs. The restaurant will also have two bars, including a Tiki bar toward the back. “It’ll be sexier than Sweet Cheeks,” she says.
She aims to open Tiger Mama in July.
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Kara Baskin can be reached at kcbaskin@gmail.com.