Dorchester’s 50Kitchen restaurant closes its doors

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“This was a hard decision, but one that we needed to make. We are so exceedingly grateful to everyone who has stopped by, had a meal or shared our story.”

Dorchester restaurant 50Kitchen permanently closed its doors Feb. 12, less than two years after its grand opening.

A message posted on the restaurant’s Instagram page on Jan. 13 notified its roughly 4,000 followers that the restaurant located in Fields Corner would close.

“This was a hard decision, but one that we needed to make. We are so exceedingly grateful to everyone who has stopped by, had a meal or shared our story,” read the post.

Head chef and owner Anthony Caldwell opened the Asian and southern fusion restaurant in February 2020. 

Numerous challenges prolonged the eatery’s grand opening. Caldwell won Fields Corner Collaborative’s first restaurant pitch competition in late 2017, which awarded him free rent for six months and reduced rent thereafter. But, over the course of the following two years, Caldwell struggled to gather enough funds to get his restaurant up and running.

But finally, Caldwell opened the doors of 50Kitchen just before the pandemic took hold in February 2020.

“God said he would give me my own kitchen by age 50,” Caldwell, who was 49 at the time, told The Boston Globe.

Caldwell is known for his “culinary genius,” often mixing few ingredients in complex ways. Menu items like smoked brisket banh mi, chicken and waffles with apple butter, and the famous 50K sandwich gave 50Kitchen its unique flare. He even made an appearance on the popular television series “Chopped: Martha’s Rules.”

Keeping his restaurant open throughout the height of the pandemic, Caldwell and his team provided meals for families in need. He has also been open about his struggles with addiction and mental health, highlighting his unconventional road to the cooking world.

The Instagram post assured fans that “this is not the end of our story, but merely the end of this chapter of it.”

“We understand that many of our fans will be sad to hear this news, but we would not like to focus on the negatives,” read the Instagram post’s caption. “We are grateful for what we were able to do and accomplish in just two years.”