On July 31, Flavors of India opened at 10 Railroad Avenue in Essex Junction in the space most recently occupied by Irrawaddy. That restaurant’s owner, Htun Sein, confirmed by text that inadequate staffing obliged him to close Irrawaddy. Sein offered dishes from his native Burma, as well as a Nepali menu, from November 2021 until earlier this summer. Its replacement is owned by Dileep Sharma and serves North Indian food, said Flavors of India’s manager, who declined to provide his full name.
After almost seven years, Pica-Pica Filipino Cuisine in St. Johnsbury closed on August 12. “Maintaining reliable skilled staffing is an issue for us,” especially when students return to school in the fall, owner George Sales explained by email. He loved bringing the dishes of his native Philippines to Vermont, Sales said, but running the restaurant with too few employees and an unreliable supply chain was exhausting.
This article appears in Aug 16-22, 2023.
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