DooWee’s Launches Tomorrow at Umbria Prime

A local chef who has made a name for himself serving bao and dumplings around Greater Boston is adding another new concept to his repertoire. Duy Tran will be popping up with DooWee’s at Umbria Prime for the foreseeable future, formally starting on Tuesday this week (December 6).

Tran previously operated DooWee & Rice in Somerville and later landed at Wonder Bar in Brighton, serving up his signature buns and dumplings but later closed down those operations and did some catering. Within the last few months, Tran announced his return, taking up residence at Monroe in Cambridge. That tenure was short-lived, however, as Monroe faced disciplinary action from the city and later closed. Tran then moved on to Bao Nation to revamp the menu, before arriving at Umbria Prime.

Tran’s pop-up will include lunch and dinner. Lunch will operate with a quick-service structure with two available items, to accommodate the professional crowd around Umbria Prime: Vietnamese beef noodle soup with roasted bone marrow and pork belly biscuits with gravy and grilled vegetables. Dinner will feature eight to nine seasonal dishes that make use of the restaurant’s wood-burning oven. Items include char grilled Spanish octopus, suckling pig, and brined duck confit, Tran told Eater. Matthew Smith (Liquid Art House) will join Tran for DooWee’s at Umbria Prime.

“I am very fortunate to have all these places seeking my services and am quite relieved that we have an amazing kitchen to experiment and cook in during the winter months,” Tran told Eater. He will also accommodate catering requests and private events and dinners, he said.

• Duy Tran Is Now Cooking out of Umbria Prime [EBOS]