Table Talk

Seeing Red    Where Bertucci’s once stood, Red Lantern now glows. The space on the seemingly cursed Stanhope Street (see: Stix, 33 Restaurant, Bomboa) has been reinvented by local design pro Peter Niemitz, who gave it a funky pan-Asian makeover, complete with a giant Buddha. The restaurant’s chef, Kevin Long (of Tosca and Shrine), has created a menu that pulls from Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and Vietnamese cuisines, with heavy street-food leanings. Kalbi skewers or duck buns, anyone?

Even More Evoo    After relocating to Kendall Square last year, 13-year-old locavore favorite Evoo continues to evolve. An expansion has added more than 50 seats and a patio shared with casual sister restaurant Za, as well as a few new private dining spaces for special events.

Ivy Graduate    Taking over where shuttered eatery Ivy left off, 49 Social has opened its doors for lunch, dinner, and late-night eats in Downtown Crossing. Chef Michael Lishchynsky, formerly of the Four Seasons, is behind the stoves, and Kim Frankson from Radius has created a cocktail menu full of fresh fruits and tasty liqueurs. Our fingers are crossed for something a bit more inspired than 49’s predecessor, though we’re not expecting dramatic changes. The new restaurant boasts of “preserving the unique architecture of the space,” which sounds like code for “wouldn’t spring for a new interior design.”

Truckin’ On    Yet another food truck joins the city’s ever-growing roster of mobile restaurants. BBQsmith, a ’cue joint on wheels, plates up smoked pork, chicken, and a changing “mystery meat” — which we hope is better than it sounds — from its weekday spot at the Chinatown gate. (Financial District types, take note: You might want to bring an extra tie to work.) On weekends, barbecue fiends can track down the truck via Facebook and Twitter.