Tiffani Faison’s New Food-Hall Spot Is a Spiritual Sequel to Tiger Mama
Tigerbaby is now open at Boston’s High Street Place, with fast-casual dishes reminiscent of the Fenway favorite that closed in 2021.
Tigerbaby dishes at High Street Place food hall. / Photo by Brian Samuels
When chef, restaurateur, and food TV personality Tiffani Faison posted a sneaky selfie in front of a jungle-like wall last week, she did not quite expect such an impassioned response to the tease of her newest business, which opens today. But the glowing orange script on the wall read “Tigerbaby,” which immediately called to mind her gone-but-not-forgotten Southeast- and East Asian-inspired Fenway restaurant, Tiger Mama, which closed in 2021. Cue the comments from fans clamoring for favorites like pad krapow gai, cotton-candy pork fried rice, and brown butter laksa—almost like they were already ordering takeout.
“It’s both flattering and terrifying,” Faison tells Boston with a laugh, in front of the new restaurant several days before the opening. Tigerbaby, under the umbrella of Faison’s Big Heart Hospitality group, is inside the Downtown Boston food hall High Street Place, at the counter that once housed Gorgeous Gelato. This marks Faison’s fifth business currently operating at the food hall, joining Bubble Bath (which recently expanded to a Back Bay hotel rooftop), Tenderoni’s (which used to have a standalone Fenway sibling in the former Tiger Mama space), Charming Gardener, and Dive Bar. “I need people to adjust to what this is, as opposed to wanting it to be the thing before.”
Sure, the counter-service food hall vendor is not the immersive date-night spot that was full of greenery, a disco elephant (which lives at Bubble Bath Back Bay now), a big list of creative cocktails, and a large-format smoked and fried duck dish. The concept is comfortingly familiar, though, with Tiger Mama’s spirit suffusing the new baby: bold flavors, generous portions, food with a wink. Don’t expect a Da Nang cocktail or a resurrection of the old menu, but thankfully some favorites are back, readjusted for fast-casual dining. There’s the aforementioned pad krapow gai, for instance (available after 4 p.m.); the sesame seed-doused Singapore street noodles; the super-garlicky, wok-charred bok choy, cabbage, and mustard greens; and the basil chicken, an herby and savory stalwart for the spice-averse. More throwback dishes might be on the way; we’ve got our fingers crossed for “le tigre” fried rice.
Tigerbaby’s tiger tangerine chicken at High Street Place food hall. / Photo by Brian Samuels
Faison finds herself returning to flavors of Southeastern and East Asian cuisines because they offer a nuanced, culinary flex—a balance of tastes like smoke and spice—with dishes changing from one bite to the next. Other dishes “are just comforting,” says Faison, “like the tangerine chicken,” which coats lightly battered and crispy chicken with a spicy-sweet citrus sauce fired up with Thai chili. “I just want to go in a dark room and be left alone to pound this [dish] on my own.”
Other likely crowd-pleasers appear on the all-day “Tiger Snackies” section of the menu. There are “popcorn dumplings,” for example: handmade miniature pork dumplings that are fried, tossed in sweet and spicy sesame seeds, and served with a tangy aioli made with garlic, ginger and an almost malty Chinese black vinegar. There are crab rangoons, too—a velvety mix of cream cheese, Jonah crab, and surimi (a fish paste also known as imitation crab). The stuffed bites are served alongside a house-made duck sauce that zings with apricot. Drinks such as Thai tea and Vietnamese coffee round out the menu, as well as Lucky Buddha beer.
Tigerbaby has been kicking around in Faison’s head and heart for years, she says. A trip throughout Thailand, Vietnam, and South Korea—part personal reflection, part research—saw her studying the techniques of street food vendors and local chefs. She and Myron Chinn, Big Heart Hospitality’s chef de cuisine, have been working on recipes for months, optimizing dishes for counter service, takeout, and delivery.
While standing by Tigerbaby’s leafy-green wall, the scent of fried chili in the air, it’s easy to wonder whether this is a test flight. Is there another form of Tiger waiting to grow up into a freestanding restaurant somewhere? “I don’t answer questions like that,” Faison says, side-stepping with a smile. “The world’s a very strange and unpredictable place right now. I don’t know.” Then, after the slightest pause: “It’s not a ‘no.’ It’s not a ‘yes.’” Whatever happens in the future, though, Tigerbaby isn’t a place holder—but its own animal ready to roar on its own.
Tigerbaby’s Korean pork tteokbokki at High Street Place food hall. / Photo by Brian Samuels
Open for lunch and dinner Monday through Saturday. 100 High St. (High Street Place food hall), Downtown Boston, highstreetplace.com.
