Hungry Mother Team Tackles Plumbing Problems to Open New Concept in the Space

Plumbing problems will not hold back the team behind Mamaleh’s, State Park, and formerly Hungry Mother. The owners have a new concept planned for the Hungry Mother space at 233 Cardinal Medeiros Ave., and there’s a petition going around aimed at letting them sidestep the bathroom issues that have sidelined the project over the last year, according to a newsletter from the restaurant.

Hungry Mother operated for seven years before closing in July of 2015, following chef Barry Maiden’s departure to pursue new projects. At the time, the rest of the team — John Kessen, Rachel Miller Munzer, Alon Munzer, Heather Mojer, Tyler Sundet, and Rachel Sundet — decided they would open a new concept in the space, but they “have had to deal with some bureaucratic issues over the last year,” the team wrote in yesterday’s newsletter.

The main issue: a requirement that the restaurant add a third bathroom to be able to reopen. There is now a petition directed towards the plumbing board that asks for a variance for the restaurant’s bathroom number so they can finally reopen with the planned new concept (the details of which are under wraps).

“The cost of adding another bathroom and the space that will be lost will have a tremendous impact on the viability of a successful business,” the Hungry Mother team wrote. The petition indicates that the existing two-bathroom setup did not cause visible problems for the function of the restaurant, and that the architecture and layout of the space were huge assets to the restaurant and would potentially be negatively impacted by the addition of a third bathroom.

The petition is currently approaching 700 signatures, with a target of 5,000.

UPDATE, 1/18/17: Per a newsletter from the team, they have been granted the variance to not add a new bathroom and will share updates soon about the forthcoming new restaurant.

• All Hungry Mother Coverage on Eater [EBOS]