Boston, MA
City of Boston sues chef Barbara Lynch for $1.7 million in unpaid taxes – The Boston Globe
In the wake of last month’s announcement that she would close and sell her remaining restaurants, chef Barbara Lynch is now being sued by the City of Boston for nearly $1.7 million in unpaid personal property taxes.
According to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court, the celebrated-but-embattled chef has tallied up a “vast unpaid amount of taxes” across her seven restaurants in Fort Point, the South End, and Beacon Hill that have gone unaddressed for over a decade.
The lawsuit claims that Lynch owes $589,430 in back taxes at No. 9 Park and $156,188 at B&G Oysters that date back to 2011; $515,107 at Menton and $134,714 at Drink that have gone unpaid since 2015; $148,269 at the Butcher Shop unpaid since 2013; $124,995 at Sportello that date back to 2012; and $8,003 in taxes at Stir that have accrued since 2017.
“With the exception of one tax payment for each entity in August 2021,” the suit alleges that Lynch continuously failed to pay personal property taxes, which are assessed on equipment, fixtures, and other business material. Those taxes continue to grow at a rate of $366.94 a day. The city sent final notices to the chef’s seven restaurants in January of this year; in the ensuing months, several of Lynch’s restaurants have accrued over $20,000 more in back taxes.
Lynch, a daughter of South Boston whose trajectory from public housing to the upper echelons of fine dining put her among an elite class of celebrity chefs, has, over the past several years, faced a series of debilitating hardships that have upended her career and her hometown restaurant empire.
In March of 2023, two former employees brought a class-action lawsuit against the James Beard Award-winning chef, claiming she failed to pay out tips to staff after her eateries reopened from pandemic-era closures. Like many restaurants, Lynch’s group applied for federal Paycheck Protection Plan loans to help keep the business afloat in 2020, with South End seafood spot B&G Oysters receiving about $888,974 in PPP loans and Lynch’s Fort Point cocktail bar Drink receiving over $1.3 million, according to the lawsuit, which is still pending.
A month later, over a dozen former employees came forward with reports of longstanding problems in Lynch’s kitchens, reporting that the chef’s inappropriate behaviors and hostile actions had resulted in a toxic workplace culture. Lynch, herself a sexual assault survivor who has written in her memoir about her past troubles with alcohol, denied the allegations, calling them “fantastical.”
“I expressly reject the various false accusations lodged against me that I have behaved inappropriately with employees or crossed professional guideposts that are important to me,” she said in a statement at the time. “I cannot put out all the fires that flare in this high stress environment and my very modest roots allow me to recognize that I’m far from being above reproach.”
But all the controversies took a toll. In the ensuing months, Lynch pulled back from her Boston restaurants, and by September, The Butcher Shop in the South End had gone dark.
In January of this year, Lynch announced that she would close her three Fort Point restaurants — Menton, Sportello, and Drink — and sell The Butcher Shop and Stir to former employees, a move that resulted in the firing of 100 workers. At the time, she said she intended to focus her efforts on running her newest endeavor, The Rudder, a waterfront seafood restaurant in Gloucester, where she lived upstairs.
Six days later, the city filed its final notices to the chef for unpaid taxes.
Then, last month, Lynch shared in an Instagram post that she would be closing The Rudder. By the day’s end, she announced that her remaining Boston restaurants, No. 9 Park and B&G Oysters, would also shutter. In an announcement she released regarding the closures, Lynch said the financial challenges of running restaurants contributed to her decision.
“The harsh realities of the global pandemic and the many difficulties faced calls for significant investment, which neither myself nor my fellow shareholders are positioned to do,” Lynch wrote. “We are working hard to finalize sales that will ensure those much loved entities will carry on in some small way.”
In the court filing, the city requested to file a temporary restraining order against Lynch to preserve assets, ensuring that should a sale of the restaurants go through, any back taxes would be paid.
A representative for Lynch did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.
Sean Cotter of the Globe Staff contributed to this report.
Read the full text of the lawsuit below.
Janelle Nanos can be reached at janelle.nanos@globe.com. Follow her @janellenanos.
Boston, MA
Casting call open for Zendaya, Robert Pattinson's new movie filming in Boston
A new movie starring Zendaya and Robert Pattinson that is being filmed in Boston is looking for extras.
A24, the production company behind “The Drama,” is hosting an open casting call for the movie.
The company is looking for “Boston locals with distinctive faces to play background characters” in the film.
The film is shooting from now until the end of November in Boston, according to the casting page. A24 was unable to provide exact filming locations for “The Drama” because they are confidential, the company told MassLive.
Extras will be required to be on set between one to six days this month. The role pays $216 for an eight-hour day.
Candidates must live in the Boston area to be considered and 18 years old or older to apply. No previous experience is required.
Anyone interested in applying can fill out the application or email casting director Kate Antognini at casting@kateantognini.com.
Kristoffer Borgli (“Dream Scenario”) is directing the film and Ari Aster (“Midsommar,” “Hereditary”) is the producer. Production on the film started on Oct. 22, according to IMBd Pro.
Plans for “The Drama” were revealed in August, as first reported by The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.
Both Zendaya and Pattinson have been seen shooting scenes in and around Boston over the past few weeks.
Zendaya has also been spotted with her boyfriend and fellow “Spider-Man” co-star Tom Holland.
Boston, MA
Bruins vs. Blues RECAP: Boston comes back in 3rd to win 3-2!
Oh my god.
1st Period, where nothing happened
While the B’s controlled the shot count, this game started kind of slow, with the. The Power Play couldn’t take advantage of the Blues’ penalties, and both sides headed to the break tied 0-0.
2nd Period, where all the bad things happened.
The Bruins took some penalties.
On those Penalty Kills, the Boston Bruins got absolutely rinsed in nearly identical ways; the defenseman in front was moved away from the net-front in a battle, Swayman committed to a shot coming from his right, and then the Blues batted home an unusual rebound.
The first Blues player to do this was Braden Schenn…
…and then, Oskar Sundqvist.
The Bruins head to the third period down 2-0 thanks to some gruesome penalty killing.
3rd Period OF THE GODS
ALRIGHT.
SO.
Things looked bad. Really bad. Coming into this period, there looked like there was going to be yet another long discussion about how the final frame was becoming a slow-burning problem for the team.
And then something funny happened.
David Pastrnak stripped the puck from Colton Parayko in the neutral zone, charged into the Blues’ end, and got Morgan Geekie an absolute rocket to fire off past Binnington to get the Bruins their first goal of the night! 2-1 Blues.
Next, Charlie McAvoy got a strong pass out of the defensive end to Justin Brazeau, where he and Brad Marchand victimized Mathieu Joseph for a few seconds, then passed the puck back off to McAvoy, who put a bunker buster of a shot straight past Binnington to tie the game off a screen! 2-2 Everybody!
Good positioning on Brazeau’s part to get in front of Binnington, too. Boston’s had their issues with that kind of thing and it’s great to see a plan come together.
Finally, the Bruins smelled blood in the water, and harangued the Blues until finally, off of a chaotic sequence where the puck bounced out into the slot to Charlie McAvoy, who let David Pastrnak rip one off on Binnington again. Binnington couldn’t keep it in his body, and it trickled into the net with less than 2 minutes to go.
Comeback complete. BOSTON WINS 3-2.
Game Notes
- Your TOI leader tonight was Charlie Mcavoy, who played 25:08 tonight. Right behind him however was David Pastrnak, who played 24:29.
- The B’s were well on their way towards making another extremely exhausting night of people venting their spleen on how the team is built for all of us here on SCoC, but man if they didn’t figure themselves out after Morgan Geekie got his goal. The 5v5 game had always been on their side tonight, it just took a distressing amount of time and a strong shift to finally get it going.
- It also doesn’t escape my notice that they hammered the net-front tonight in what was almost assuredly more of what Coach Monty wants for this team. If Boston wants to win, getting to those dangerous areas of the ice will always be a wonderful equalizer; even if they still struggle with other things. Namely…well…special teams.
- David Pastrnak had a statement game tonight; A goal, an assist on Geekie’s goal that got this whole thing rolling in the first place, accounted for a third of all shots on net from a Bruins skater, and a staggering 97.02% in xGF%. Only one giveaway too, for all those people who care about that sort of thing! Absolutely exceptional stuff from Pasta.
- Charlie McAvoy finished tonight’s game with a huge goal from distance, and one of the better nights he’s had possession-wise so far this season. Morgan Geekie probably got a goal tonight that kept him in the lineup going into the next week or so, but Charlie McAvoy needed a game like this badly, and I gotta imagine he’s gotta feel like he just stepped out of the shower with how refreshed his game was tonight. Gonna need that to continue, but this is an all important step-forward.
- Thank god the Blues’ defense is such trash that Pastrnak was able to get that puck through to Morgan Geekie. Could you imagine what this game would be like if that poke check actually worked instead of just slow it down for Geekie? I sure don’t want to.
- The Penalty Kill is still pretty bad; St. Louis got their lead from two nearly identical shots on the power play that were born of the Blues being able to find space in front of the netminder. That’s gotta be cleaned up when they head to Dallas, because they’ll make you pay for that.
- Oh yeah and the power play is still rough too. Not much I can say there except maybe get weird with it. Let’s stack five forwards. Let’s stack five defenseman. It’s already cratering towards league worst right down by St. Louis, might as well get wacky and make the other team tilt their head.
- Jeremy Swayman’s night was defined, much like Boston, by the penalty kill. He seemed completely out of sorts when he didn’t have a 5th skater in front of him, but after that? He settled down and his SV% settled at .909. If the B’s weren’t taking boneheaded penalties and leaving his left side as a yawning cage, he probably would’ve had a more impressive statline. Otherwise? I think we actually got a pretty standard Swayman performance. To me, a standard Swayman performance is that you can get two goals against him. They might even look terrible. But you will have to move heaven and earth to get goal three, and the Blues couldn’t do that.
- The Bruins lost Hampus Lindholm very early on in the game thanks to blocking a shot with his leg. Hopefully it’s just some pain and swelling, because him being out for any length of time will be painful. Someone on the Providence Bruins should be getting to the airport to make it to Dallas by Thursday night.
- STOP TAKING HIGH STICKING PENALTIES.
The Bruins continue their road trip to Dallas, Texas to take on the Stars on Thursday at the American Airlines Center. That game drops the puck at 8pm EST.
We’ll see you there!
Boston, MA
Celtics News: Jayson Tatum Makes Major Boston History vs Hawks
When four-time All-NBA Boston Celtics power forward Jayson Tatum scored his seventh and eighth points against the Atlanta Hawks in Tuesday night’s ongoing Emirates NBA Cup matchup against the Atlanta Hawks, he further enshrined himself among the franchise’s all-time legends.
According to the contest’s NBC Sports Boston broadcast, Tatum’s 12,196 career points (and counting) move him into 12th all-time among Boston’s leading scorers early into his eighth pro season, ahead of Hall of Fame combo forward Tommy Heinsohn’s 12,194 across a nine-season championship run. Three-time All-Star power forward Antoine Walker’s 11,386 and the 10,222 career points of Tatum’s All-Star teammate Jaylen Brown round out the club’s top 15 scorers.
Tatum will no doubt soon pass another Hall of Famer Celtics legend, eight-time All-Star shooting guard Bill Sharman, whom Tatum currently trails by just 91 points. Given that the 6-foot-8 former Duke Blue Devil is could achieve that feat within the next three games.
He’s averaging 30.5 points on .465/.367/.798 shooting splits, 7.6 rebounds and 5.0 assists through his first 11 games with the club. The five-time All-Star, always a pretty prodigious scorer and enthusiastic defender, seems to have taken a leap this year, and has emerged as a bona fide MVP candidate this season.
Seven-time All-Star point guard Jo Jo White is tenth, with 13,188 career points. The Hall of Fame point guard won two championships with Boston from 1969-79, before spending his final two NBA seasons with the Golden State Warrior snad then-Kansas City Kings.
Brown’s 16 points pace the Celtics through one quarter. Boston leads, marginally, against a very banged-up Atlanta club, 31-29. The reigning Finals MVP has scored those 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field (1-of-4 from deep) and 3-of-4 shooting from the charity stripe, plus two rebounds. Tatum’s eight points arrive on an inefficent 2-of-6 shooting from the floor (1-of-4 from long range) and 3-of-3 shooting from the foul line. He also has chipped in four rebounds and an assist.
The Celtics have a significant 5-0 edge in fastbreak points so far, while the Hawks’ Trae Young-free offense has, predictably, thrived as a passing team, enjoying a 10-6 advantage.
Boston and Atlanta find themselves in East Group A for this year’s NBA Cup festivities, alongside the 12-0 Cleveland Cavaliers, the scrappy Chicago Bulls and the Washington Wizards. Chicago and Atlanta represent the league’s two fastest-paced clubs, but that doesn’t seem likely to be a problem for a club as athletic and adept defensively as the defending champs.
More Celtics: Boston Commemorates Bill Russell With Special NBA Cup Court
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