The Jade Rabbits last day at its current location on Belmont was Sunday, August 23. The restaurant reopens on Thursday, August 27 with plant-based dimsum, Pan-Asian cuisine, tea cocktails, and traditional gaiwan tea service at 3632 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard.
Founding worker-owner Cyrus Ichiza notes the relocation allows Jade Rabbit to fully embrace its teahouse identity, while delivering an authentic yum cha experience – the Cantonese tradition of drinking tea alongside dim sum with family and friends. Diners can look forward to dim sum carts on weekends, Pan-Asian street snacks, an expanded selection of gluten-free offerings, and retail jars of Jade Rabbit’s signature sauces, including its popular chili oil and green vinegar. The restaurant also plans to launch happy hour featuring gongfu cha tea tastings with premium teas sourced from China and Taiwan.
Longtime menu favorites will remain its core staples. Classics include the chili oil wontons stuffed with vegan beef, the namesake garlic chive-infused Jade Rabbit dumplings, siu mai topped with tapioca roe, and fiery wind noodle soup with 13-herb medicinal broth. The new space also allows Jade Rabbit to expand its plant-based pastry program, which currently includes dim sum classics like pineapple custard buns and creative desserts like five-spice carrot cake with pandan cream cheese frosting.
Rooted in Buddhist and Taoist culinary traditions, Jade Rabbit’s Pan-Asian fare incorporates Taiwanese non-GMO mock meats from Layonna’s Vegetarian, replicating the appearances, flavors, and textures of traditional animal-based proteins. Developed by Ichiza, the vegan meats are produced organically in Taiwan using non-GMO heirloom soy that has been fermented for a minimum of three years.
“These top-of-the-line vegan proteins create a seamless experience for omnivores eating vegan food,” says Ichiza in a statement. “It also gives longtime vegans the nostalgia of connecting to their heritage through food,” he adds, recalling moments when vegan customers have moved to tears eating adobo for the first time in 15 years. By evoking these rich flavor memories, Jade Rabbit has established itself as a dining destination, bridging tradition with modern vegan cuisine.
In 2017, Ichiza debuted his East Asian and Southeast Asian cooking as Ichiza Kitchen, an intimate vegan bistro in Goose Hollow. There, he served Filipino adobo stew, Lanzhou noodle soup, kimchi gyoza, shu mai, and more. The chef also celebrated his multicultural Filipino-Chinese-Chamorro roots with Filipino History Month and Lunar New Year specials.
Over the next nine years, Ichiza Kitchen has undergone a remarkable journey: relocating to Killingsworth, rebranding as Jade Rabbit as it settled into a commissary kitchen, then establishing a popup residency within Aimsir Distilling. After departing the distillery in December 2024, Jade Rabbit restructured as a worker-owner model led by a seven member leadership team as it landed on Belmont Street.
The restaurant also implemented its Equitable Wage Initiative, ensuring that every staff member – from dishwasher to the head chef – earns the exact same hourly wage. “Our equal wage initiative aims to eliminate traditional workplace hierarchies,” says worker-owner Chloe Tatro, who brings a background in nursing and healthcare to the collective. “We strongly believe our new home on Hawthorne will provide the growth needed to make profit sharing and healthcare an achievable reality in the near future, not just a distant goal.”
