[UPDATE] Here’s the Debut Menu at Pagu, Which Opens in Early January

Pagu curry-crab croqueta photo by Matt Li / Tracy Chang photo by Ken Richardson for “Pagu Set to Open in December”

UPDATE, December 23, 9 a.m.: Pagu has softly opened during dinner hours. The restaurant will be open tonight at 6 p.m., then take the holiday weekend off. It reopens for dinner Tuesday, December 27 through New Year’s Eve, then closes to recharge for the official debut on Tuesday, January 3.

PREVIOUSLY:

An active block in Cambridge is set to get a unique new restaurant early next month. Pagu officially opens January 3, Tracy Chang announced today.

Chang (O Ya, Guchi’s Midnight Ramen) calls the menu her “culinary diary,” with dishes stemming from her upbringing and diverse, collaborative ethos. That means squid ink oyster bao, and a pork belly soup bowl, inspired by Guchi’s Midnight Ramen, which she co-founded; and croquetas de curry crab, and other adapted pintxos and Spanish tapas she learned about and fell in love with while cooking and working in Spain. There’s a Smoky Cheese Wafflato, with pâte a choux, potato and smoked mozzarella; and Childhood Fried Rice with Taiwanese sausage, a family recipe and the first thing Chang ever cooked.

Check out the opening menu below.

Beyond the food, Pagu has a full bar, stocked with under-the-radar Spanish wines, ciders, and sherry, and Japanese sakes, curated by consultant Tom Schlesinger-Guidelli. Head bartender Caitlin Sullivan’s cocktail list has a section dedicated to different gin and tonics, plus sake cocktails, Basque Country drinks, like Kalimotxo (red wine and cola), and large-format cocktails.

Pagu has signed on with Tock, a restaurant ticketing tool employed locally by Journeyman. To start, Pagu will have a prix fixe menu on Tock, and limited walk-ins are welcome to order from an abbreviated a la carte menu. It’s open Tuesday-Saturday from 5-11 p.m. Later on in early 2017, Pagu will add breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours seven days per week.

Pagu, 310 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, 617-945-9290, gopagu.com.

PAGU Soft Opening Menu – FINAL by Jacqueline Cain on Scribd