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A popular Allston-Brighton restaurant has closed, but it’s not gone forever: Ittoku (1414 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston) held its last service on Sunday, September 22, in advance of its planned relocation to Cambridge’s Porter Square. Ittoku sold its beer and wine license to the restaurant that will take its place on Commonwealth Avenue and could reopen sometime in October 2019 at 1815 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, where it will have a full liquor license.
With the move, much of Ittoku’s menu will remain in place, but there will be a handful of new additions to the menu, manager Kevin Alarcon previously previously told Eater. Those new items will include okonomiyaki, or savory pancakes, which the restaurant previewed at the City of Boston’s Japan Festival this past April. Popular items on the Allston menu included yakitori (assorted skewers), sushi rolls, and ramen.
Ittoku has not yet announced an exact opening date for the Cambridge location, but follow along with its move on social media. The restaurant will join a hotbed of restaurants in the Porter Square building at 1815 Massachusetts Ave., including Bourbon Coffee, Shaking Crab, Sapporo Ramen, Yume Ga Arukara, and more. A Korean barbecue restaurant from New York, Jongro BBQ, will reportedly take over Ittoku’s Allston-Brighton restaurant space.
The second half of 2019 is shaping up to be a busy time for new Japanese restaurants in the Boston area. In late summer, the team behind Ebisuya Market in Medford opened Ebisuya Noodle House in Malden, and the Ganko Ittetsu team in Brookline opened up a sibling and neighbor, Gantetsu-Ya, serving takoyaki and okonomiyaki. Coming up later this fall, in addition to the new Ittoku location: Udon-focused, Japan-based chain Tsurutontan will open in Boston’s Kenmore Square, and the growing JP Fuji restaurant group will open Fuji at High Street Place (one of Boston’s forthcoming food halls), serving sushi and more.
• Ittoku Izakaya Is Moving Across the River to Cambridge [EBOS]
