The Launderette Team Is Finally Previewing That Long-Anticipated Sichuan Restaurant

The team behind New American restaurant Launderette, chef Rene Ortiz and pastry chef Laura Sawicki, is finally previewing their long-awaited Sichuan takeout restaurant, Angry Bear, with a New Year’s Eve takeout special this year.

Angry Bear’s standard four-course meal (called the “Magnificent Angry Bear Experience”), which is meant for two people, includes bao with truffled green soybeans, dumplings with Dungeness crab, miso-glazed short ribs, and Kung Pao chicken. Desserts include almond-fig mooncakes and fortune tuile cookies. The larger package (dubbed “Extra Magnificent Angry Bear Experience”) includes additional courses, such as salt and pepper lobster, tea-smoked duck salad, and five-spice dark chocolate bonbons.

Both meals come with a cocktail kit featuring the Diamond Disco, made with gin, Cocchi Americano, both Sichuan peppercorn and lychee-ginger syrups. A non-alcoholic version is also available. There’s also an optional wine pairing of Italian winery Occhipinti’s SP68.

The offerings are rounded out with gold-plated highball glasses with the Angry Bear logo, bandanas bearing an ox (2021’s Chinese zodiac animal), temporary metallic tattoos, sparkles and other New Year’s-related paraphernalia, as well as an accompanying playlist.

Back in 2013, Ortiz and Sawicki announced their intentions to open the Chinese takeout restaurant, then as part of what would become Launderette. While Launderette opened in 2015 without Angry Bear, the team announced that it had planned on opening the concept within the next-door convenience store. However, they turned that into a New Orleans-inspired market and deli, Mr. Mc’s, in 2016, but it closed a year later. When asked about the future of the Sichuan restaurant, the team shared, via a rep: “For now, Angry Bear is just a dream.”

Angry Bear’s New Year’s Eve packages are $248 for the standard and $325 for the larger one. Orders can be placed online starting on Friday, December 11 at 10 a.m., with pickups at Launderette on 2115 Holly Street on New Year’s Eve, Thursday, December 31.

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