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After closing her Fort Point stores in early 2024, Lynch is now closing her remaining positions.
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Barbara Lynch. / Photo by Michael Prince
Barbara Lynch is closing her remaining three restaurants after closing her three Fort Point stores in Boston and selling two others in early 2024. The Rudder in Gloucester, their newest restaurant, is already closed, no. 9 Park on Beacon Hill will follow at the end of the year. A closing date for B&G Oysters in the South End has not yet been set.
Rudder’s closure was announced on the morning of October 9th with a statement posted on the restaurant’s website and social media accounts, attributed to the South Boston-born chef and restaurateur: “After three years in this beautiful space at Rocky Neck I have made the very personal decision to close The Rudder effective immediately. I would like to thank the community for all their support. “Gloucester has always been close to my heart and always will be.” (The restaurant was in operation for about a year and a half; Lynch, who moved to Gloucester in 2016, probably bought it about three years ago.)
According to Eater, Lynch and her team are reportedly in “advanced discussions” with a buyer for No. 9 Park, “interested in developing this iconic space, with a desire to build on the legacy that has been No. 1 for 26 years.” It will close shortly after the holiday season, including holiday lunches (and hopefully a Tom & Jerry or two , as long as we see some snow in December). The restaurant – Lynch’s first – opened in 1998 and won numerous awards over the years, paving the way for the growth of her empire to South End and Fort Point. In 2000, we gave it the Best of Boston Award for Best Restaurant, General Excellence, in praise of the atmosphere (“elegant and haute without pretension”) and “the food, oh, the food,” from spaghetti with meat sauce ( “taken to a higher level”) to more sophisticated dishes like an “ethereal” ham-wrapped foie gras terrine.
B&G Oysters opened five years after No. 9, a collaboration between Lynch and Garrett Harker – hence the B and G – which she bought out soon after. (Harker, of course, later opened the Eastern Standard and more.) Since then, it’s been a South End favorite for upscale seafood, including top-notch takes on classic New England lobster rolls and fried clams, as well as caviar flights, whole fish preparations, and more. There is no information yet on a specific closing date or a possible sale.
Lynch is considered a trailblazer in Boston’s culinary industry, although his legacy has been tarnished by allegations of widespread workplace toxicity that emerged simultaneously in exposés in the New York Times and the Boston Globe last year. It abruptly closed its trio of Fort Point restaurants in early 2024. Cocktail bar Drink, fine-dining gem Menton and Italian restaurant Sportello have been instrumental in transforming Congress Street into the bustling destination it is today. Lynch’s representative cited an “uncooperative landlord” in these closings.
Concurrent with the closings, Lynch sold the Butcher Shop and Stir, both in the South End, “to former protégés” and retained ownership of No. 9 Park, B&G Oysters and The Rudder, which she opened in mid-2023. (The Butcher Shop deal fell through; now the team behind Kava Neo-Taverna and more will open a gastropub there.)
The Rudder dates back to 1957, changed hands over the years and closed a few years before Lynch took over. Their last opening was in Menton in 2010, so their latest project attracted a lot of attention. It wasn’t meant to be a fish house, the Globe reported in 2022, but rather a “seasonal, personal” project “defined by the seascape and the life that takes place on and around it.” And not just a restaurant – Lynch had ideas for a fish canning, curing and smoking business; for courses in agriculture, foraging, entrepreneurship and more; for salon evenings and cooking courses; for podcasting. This did not happen, and at the time of its closure, the Rudder was merely a restaurant that served dinner five nights a week, dishes like a buttery seafood chowder with caviar and honey foam; classic soup with oyster crackers; Gnocchi Bolognese; salmon niçoise; and fried Ipswich mussels.
No. 9 Park and B&G Oysters are continuing to operate as usual for now.
No. 9 Park, 9 Park Street Pl., Beacon Hill, Boston, no9park.com; B&G Oysters, 550 Tremont St., South End, Boston, bandgoysters.com; the Rudder, 73 Rocky Neck Ave., Gloucester, therudderrockyneck.com.
This story has been updated. The original version said that the rudder was closed, no. However, 9 Park and B&G Oysters would remain open. In fact, all three restaurants will be closing.
