The Seaport’s Swanky New Movie Theater Debuts a Chef-Designed Popcorn Menu

(L to R) Ken Oringer’s pad Thai; Joanne Chang’s sticky bun; and Ben Steigers’s ginger curry fried chicken popcorn at ShowPlace Icon at Seaport. / Photos by Mike Diskin

Among the gleaming new buildings that have risen up along Seaport Boulevard in recent months is one of the most technologically advanced movie theaters in the country. The ShowPlace Icon at Seaport is the luxury cinema brand’s first in Massachusetts, boasting floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall, laser-projection screens, and immersive audio. The place turns 18-plus after 6 p.m., so no danger of loud tweens spouting spoilers. Seats are ticketed, reclining, heated, and each has its own swivel tables—very necessary, because of course there are snacks.

These are not your typical buckets of buttered popcorn (though that’s certainly an option). Treats like bourbon bacon caramel corn, pretzel bites with queso, craft beers, and 120 (!) flavors of soda come from the “Take 2” concessions menu. The theater also has the Lobby Lounge, a 150-seat, full-service restaurant and bar, with its own views of the Fort Point Channel. Servers will pack your meal to go, if you want to be that guy housing chicken sliders and shrimp tacos inside the movie theater. You can do that here. This is the luxury future.

But even if you just stick to popcorn, the indulgences ramp up this spring. Starting April 1, ShowPlace Icon has a new menu of creative, gourmet popcorn flavors, created by some of Boston’s biggest culinary names.

James Beard Award-winning baker Joanne Chang kicks things off, because you didn’t know you needed Flour sticky bun popcorn. It’s on the menu from April 1-30. Pabu chef Benjamin Steigers is up in May, with a ginger curry fried chicken flavor—we’re still talking about popcorn!!—and in June, Toro, Coppa, Uni, and Little Donkey chef-owner Ken Oringer will offer up a pad Thai popcorn with peanuts.

There will be a new, chef-designed flavor every month through March 2019, from a veritable who’s who of Boston chef-owners, cookbook authors, and culinary award-winners: Colin Lynch of Bar Mezzana; Dante de Magistris of Dante and il Casale; Jamie Bissonnette of Little Donkey, Coppa, and Toro; Mary Dumont of Cultivar; Matt Jennings of Townsman; Michael Schlow of Tico, Doretta Taverna, and Alta Strada; Tiffani Faison of Tiger Mama and Sweet Cheeks Q; Tim Cushman of O Ya and Hojoko; and Will Gilson of Puritan & Company.

“In my family’s 109 years in the industry, I’ve never seen anything like this done. More importantly, it has been a top priority of ours to collaborate with the most talented Bostonians,” ShowPlace Icon CEO Tony Kerasotes said in a press release.

The chef popcorn baskets are priced at $8.41. Tickets to a screening at ShowPlace Icon range from $11.50-$18.50.

Haven’t been to the movies in a while? This is what it’s like now. Enjoy the show.

ShowPlace ICON at Seaport, 60 Seaport Blvd., Suite 315, Boston, showplaceicon.com.

(L to R) Joanne Chang, Benjamin Steigers, and Ken Oringer are the first three chef to feature creative popcorn flavors at ShowPlace Icon at Seaport this spring. / Photos provided by ShowPlace Icon

The “Take 2” concession area at ShowPlace Icon at Seaport. / Photos by Mike Diskin