Nightshade Noodle Bar in Lynn that began as a North Shore pop-up seven years ago is once again celebrated for its excellence. Nightshade Noodle Bar‘s Owner and Chef, Rachel Miller, met the challenges of a global pandemic to create a permanent 24-seat Viet-French fine dining restaurant with a prix fixe model focused on reinventing restaurant culture to support workers as well as diners.
On November 18, history was made during a ceremony at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, when Boston’s first ever Michelin Guide members were announced. Nightshade Noodle Bar was awarded the status of a Recommended Restaurant along with a long list of other restaurants in the Boston area. According to the Michelin Guide’s website, “While a rating of one to three stars is most coveted, what usually remains under the radar are the restaurants listed in the red book but have not been awarded a star or a Bib Gourmand, an award created in 1997 to be given out to establishments that serve good food at moderate prices. These places are, in fact, judged by the same five criteria used for starred and Bib Gourmand restaurants, and are recognized as establishments serving good food.”
Further on their website, “A restaurant in the Recommended selection is the sign of a chef using quality ingredients that are well cooked; simply a good meal,” says Michael Ellis, International Director of the MICHELIN Guide books. “It means that the inspectors have found the food to be above average, but not quite at star or Bib level.”
In addition, many restaurants recognized with either the Bib Gourmand or Recommended Restaurant status have gone on to win a Michelin star rating. This is not the first accolade for Nightshade Noodle Bar. Earlier this year Rachel Miller was named a 2025 James Beard Awards Semifinalist in the Best Chef: Northeast category. This is her second consecutive year receiving recognition in this category and the third year in a row that the James Beard Awards have nominated her. In 2023, she was one of five national finalists for the Outstanding Chef Award.
73 Exchange St., Lynn, 781-780-9470, nightshadenoodlebar.com