Grasshopper, vegan Asian restaurant in Allston, is closing

Grasshopper, the beloved vegan restaurant in Allston, will close its Beacon Street location at the end of May after their lease ends.

Restaurant owner Hoai Nguyen confirmed during a phone call that the last day of service at the 27-year-old eatery will be May 29. 

He said the lease was discontinued and claims the landlord had another potential tenant willing to pay a “higher rent.”

But a representative for One North Beacon LLC said the lease had naturally expired, and they had no plans to renew it citing ongoing issues of property maintenance and unpaid rent. A raise in rent was never discussed, the representative said.

Nguyen said they are in the process of looking for a new location that will hopefully keep the Asian vegan staple in Allston or Brighton. 

“I hope in a couple of months… we [can] continue the Grasshopper name,” Nguyen said over the phone. 

For decades Grasshopper has been a fixture along the busy Cambridge Street in Allston, for the mostly young, college-aged residents in the area, but especially for those in Boston seeking an extensive vegetarian and vegan menu.

Featured on its menu are plenty of vegetable and tofu dishes, like vegetable tempura or tofu fried rice. But some of the crowd favorites include more playful dishes, like the No Name — battered gluten in sweet and sour sauce — or the spicy “steak” fillet dish of pan-fried tofu in black bean sauce. 

Nguyen thanked the decades of support Grasshopper has received and hopes those same supporters will come back to the next place, when they find a second location. In the meantime, he urged diners to stop in before their closing date in a month, and to keep an eye on the Grasshopper Facebook account for updates. 

“I hope people will remember Grasshopper,” Nguyen said. “And if Grasshopper reopens, I hope a lot of vegans and vegetarians will come back.”

Tell us: Do you have a special memory of dining at Grasshopper? What were some of your favorite dishes? Let us know what you’ll miss about the restaurant. Share with us in the survey below or e-mail us at community@boston.com, and your response may appear in an upcoming Boston.com article.

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