Myers + Chang Review: Atypical, Not Amazing

With the cold months coming, the warmth of the Boston restaurant Myers + Chang feels like a refuge against the creeping fall chill. Thanks to the open kitchen and subdued golden light, flames from the woks occasionally flicker against the walls, highlighting the cartoonish painted tigers and dragons. Steam rises and billows with the sizzling stir-fries, and the savory aroma of scallions fills the air.

Besides the traditional dining room, Myers + Chang features communal seating and intimate counter seating with a front-row view of the open kitchen. A cacophonous clang of spatulas fuses with a soft pop beat and punctuates the lively murmur of conversation.

Myers + Chang indeed seems to lean into a casual, intimate atmosphere while drawing upon the typical iconography of Chinese restaurants. With disposable chopsticks stuck in an empty tea container, pagoda-emblem Chinese takeout boxes, and bright red bowls, the space feels familiar and comforting. By contrast, the menu positions Myers + Chang as an innovator beyond classic Asian fare; upscaled offerings like wild boar dan dan noodles and the ambiguously named “Un-Traditional Scallion Pancake” promise more than what you’ve seen from your local Chinese restaurant.

Myers + Chang is a self-described “neighborhood restaurant doing our own thing,” with cuisine that they identify as “Asian-ish.” Myers + Chang was founded by Joanne Chang, the James Beard Award-winning founder of Flour Bakery, and her husband Christopher Myers. On their website, the two founders discuss the first meal which inspired Myers + Chang — a simple yet delicious dish that Chang learned from her mother. This intimacy is both visible and palpable, reinforced by attentive and friendly servers.

Unfortunately, Myers + Chang falls short with the “fresh” aspect of their mission — though the ingredients are certainly “fresh,” potential innovation is regrettably bogged down by flawed execution.

The appetizer, “Un-Traditional Scallion Pancakes,” for example, undermines the restaurant's mission of embracing modernity and rejecting tradition. The triangular scallion pancakes are deep fried to a pleasant crisp and paired with a dark vinegar sauce, though pockets of hidden salt detracted slightly from the experience. Furthermore, the chip-like pancake forgoes the joy of a chewy soft interior, and the textural monotony and muted flavor of the scallion pancakes is indeed untraditional, but not necessarily more exciting or daring. While the crispiness and charred scallion flavor suffused throughout the dough elevates the pancakes slightly, the lack of scallions in the pancakes themselves, combined with a chopped scallion garnish, creates a visual oxymoron and draws more attention to the ironic faintness of flavor.

One flavor rises to the forefront of the wild boar dan dan noodles: salt. The udon-style noodles are tossed with a sticky sauce of sour-savory minced meat and topped with pickled mustard greens. The minced boar meat is tender and flavorful, reminiscent of a ragù, but issues arise when the complexity of the sauce morphs into a relentless, singular saltiness that lingers with — and taints — the intense, spicy, and numbing chili kick.

The acidic bits of pickled cabbage add a refreshing crunch, but not a reprieve from the sodium. Even more, the noodles are slightly overcooked and doughy, crumbling under a gentle chopsticks tug, and the mushrooms soak up too much of the salty sauce. What could have been a mildly innovative or “fresh” take on dan dan noodles, typically made with minced pork, becomes an overwhelming dish at Myers + Chang, where the saltiness masks the “freshness” of the ingredients themselves.

The standout entree, however, is the comfortingly saucy char siu chow fun. Thick, slippery rice noodles, coated with oil in the best way, are tossed with sweet, tender morsels of char siu meat. Onions and bean sprouts add a delicious crunch to the soft rice noodles, though the ratio seems slightly skewed towards the onions and bean sprouts rather than the noodles themselves. Charred scallions contribute a beautiful roasted taste.

The char siu meat produces a sweeter dimension in the classic flavor of the savory noodles, creating cohesion which draws upon traditional flavors while momentarily moving beyond them. Like a warm hug, this dish highlights the technical expertise of Myers + Chang’s menu; a comparison between the two noodle dishes only reveals the shortcomings of the one and the potential of the other.

Finally, the star of the meal is the sweet treat of crème caramel. The perfectly creamy, sticky, and subtly sweet crème caramel is bathed in a loose auburn caramel sauce. Paired with a sesame crisp and a sliced banana coated in a golden brûléed sugar crust, the dessert recalls childhood nostalgia in its simplicity while creating textural variety and opportunities for harmonious flavor combinations.

The dappled, black-and-white sesame cracker mirrors the crunch of the satisfying creme brulee shell, and the texture of the soft, sticky pudding combined with the natural sweetness of the banana allows the milky caramel flavor combination to shine. The success of this dish further underscores the pitfalls of the others: In attempting to add something new to storied classics, Myers + Chang’s dishes eclipse the robust flavors of the ingredients or traditional spices themselves.

All-in-all, the atmosphere is comfortingly homey, the ingredients are fresh, and the vision is intriguing. If Myers + Chang can innovate further on fan-favorite dishes or embrace tradition, lean into the sweet simplicity that allows their ingredients to shine through — and tone down the sodium —it will be a delicious Asian bite on its way to becoming a Boston classic.

—Staff writer Emma E. Chan can be reached at emma.chan@thecrimson.com.