Baohaus Brings Steamed Buns and Design-Inspired Puns to Rivington Street

Baohaus opened on Rivington Street on Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, Rivington Street became home to Baohaus, a subterranean shop peddling Taiwanese gua bao, or steamed buns. Located in a storefront between Norfolk and Suffolk Streets that was formerly occupied by the Naked Earth Cafe, Baohaus offers a brief menu of bao, soup, and boiled peanuts.

Baohaus serves five varieties of bao that incorporate ingredients like Niman Ranch pork belly and free-range chicken. The Haus Bao, which uses skirt steak, will get some air time on the Food Network's Ultimate Recipe Showdown in March. TV also seems to have played a role in the vegetarian Uncle Jesse (pan-fried tofu), which is, to the best of Fork in the Road's knowledge, the first and hopefully only restaurant food named after a character on Full House. There's also the Sichuan bao (hand-pulled free range chicken infused with Sichuan peppercorn oil), the Chairman Bao (braised Niman Ranch pork belly), and sweet bao fries, which are sweet fried slices of bao served with a sweet sesame dipping sauce.

In addition to the bao, which come with six different toppings (cilantro, crushed peanut, Haus relish, Taiwanese red sugar, crushed sesame, and Haus sauce), there's egg drop soup and salt and vinegar boiled peanuts, which will no doubt be manna for both curious drunks and homesick Southerners.

Baohaus
137 Rivington Street