Chef Bun Lai at Miya’s: 12 months of culinary mayhem remain.
Miya’s, the Howe Street restaurant that changed New Haven and then the world, is planning to end its long run — but not for another year.
Bun Lai, who took over the restaurant from his mother Yoshiko a generation ago, made the announcement on social media.
“At the end of 2020, with the deepest gratitude in our hearts to everybody who has carried us along the way, Miya’s will close its doors,” he wrote.
“We chose to close — sooner rather than later — so that my family and I would still be healthy enough to be able to give back more but in other ways.”
Lai reiterated just how all-consuming running a restaurant can be in a comment to the Independent Friday morning.
“Miya’s has been a deeply meaningful journey but the work is super intense and all-engrossing,” he said. “I chose to bow out of Miya’s so that my family and I could focus on other healthier ways to make a difference. Furthermore, given the opportunities that have been on the table for years now, we knew that we needed to make the move now. A life that makes a difference requires us to let go of comfort and take leaps that are scary.”
The restaurant began on Chapel Street before New Haven became known for cutting-edge dining (beyond apizza and hamburgers), quickly earning a reputation for flavorful Chinese and Japanese dishes and establishing the idea that the city is a place to go for international cuisine. The restaurant was named Miya’s after Yoshiko Lai’s youngest child and Bun’s younger sister, Mie Lai, who also ended up working at the restaurant as an adult.
Markeshia Ricks Photo
DeLauro presents Miya’s founder Yoshiko Lai, whose son was named a White House Champion of Change for Sustainable Seafood, with a Congressional cookbook.
After its move to Howe Street, Miya’s developed a fanatical following that spanned New Haven’s demographics, from students and professors to townies drawn to an increasingly eclectic and experimental menu that continues to this day. Bun Lai has gained national kudos — including a James Beard award and an honor by President Barack Obama as a “White House Champion of Change” — for pioneering “sustainable sushi” and lovingly concocting dishes, like the “kiss the smiling piggie roll,” that are even more fun to eat than to read about on the menu.
Bun Lai has foraged for invasive species like knotweed, transforming them into delicacies while protecting the environment. In the restaurant, he is a larger-than-life host, feeding and schmoozing and occasionally toasting with patrons and offering passionate odes to the ingredients and philosophy that he pours into his newest rolls.
National publications have written up the miracle on Howe Street, while Investors sought to woo Bun Lai to Miami and New York to go bigger-time. He ended up resisting the lure and focusing his world-class talents on his home turf, part of a local ecosystem that prizes community and the localized, risk-taking pursuit of world-scale dreams. He and his family have played as important (and tasteful) role in New Haven’s renaissance, as well as its role as an ethnic and culinary beacon to the larger world, as any developer or politician.
Reaction to the announcement of the closing at the end of the year was swift on social media.
“This place marked some of my happiest memories in New Haven of friendship and beautiful food (and yes, sake bombs),” read one such tribute on Facebook. “I celebrated many birthdays there, shared glorious meals and friendships, and was so happy to be able to share a magnificent dinner there with Himself on my last night in New Haven. The word ‘special’ falls sadly short of capturing the magic of Miya’s; the food but also the people. Thank you, Bun S. Lai, for the wonder that you created, and wishing you and your family a happy last year with Miya’s and much-deserved joy in the next chapter and decade.”
“Understand where you’re coming from and respect your family’s decision,” another fan, Ed Crowder, posted. “But, man ... New Haven without Miya’s? (You’ll be seeing a lot of us in 2020!)”
The news inspired one renowned poet and attorney, Reginald Dwayne Betts, to offer some final-year contributions to the cause.
“Miya’s has been my second home here in New Haven for years now,” Betts wrote.
“I’ll have to write some odes to Miya’s and the fam to help this celebration. And volunteer in the kitchen a few nights to see the magic. We live in a world where things are only valued if they last forever, so I’m going to value Miya’s for what it is, and recognize that forever is the very definition of memory, and so Miya’s will be here forever. But I’m a need some cooking lessons if I’m going to survive 2021 and beyond.”