Biba was an award winning restaurant in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

owned by

Lydia Shire Lydia Shire (born 1948) is a Boston-based chef and restaurateur. Early life and education Born in Connecticut and raised in Brookline, Massachusetts, both of her parents were illustrators. Shire began cooking as early as age four alongside her ...

. It “opened to great fanfare” in 1989. The restaurant, overlooking the Public Garden, was designed by

Adam Tihany Adam D. Tihany (born Transylvania in 1948) is a hospitality designer based in New York. He founded multidisciplinary design firm Tihany Design in 1978, and is considered the originator of the title "restaurant designer". His firm has designed ho ...

. The menu was described as “Shire's own particular eclectic blend of traditional American regional cuisine and New England seafood, with accents of Italy, California and Asia.” Instead of being arranged in traditional categories such as appetizers and entrees, it was divided by meat, starch, "legumina" (vegetables), offal (two different preparations of calves brains; lamb tongue with fava beans) and fish. In 1998, chef Susan Regis won the

James Beard Foundation Award The James Beard Foundation Awards are annual awards presented by the James Beard Foundation to recognize chefs, restaurateurs, authors and journalists in the United States. They are scheduled around James Beard's May 5 birthday. The media award ...

for Best Chef in the Northeast. In 1992, Shire won the same award for her work at the restaurant. Their Bar was renowned as well, in part for their cigar nights. Shire commissioned

Robert Jessup Robert Jessup (born July 18, 1952) is an American painter. Creating abstract works since 2011, he painted Figurative art, figuratively for most of his career, particularly large triptychs. Biography Jessup was born on July 18, 1952, in Mosc ...

to create a mural that spans the wall above it. She insisted it include a can of anchovies, a man smoking a cigar and a woman's naked breast. Biba closed on September 11, 2001.

Notable alumni

Joanne Chang Joanne Chang (born in Houston, Texas) is an American chef and restaurant owner. She is the owner of Flour Bakery in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts and James Beard Foundation Award winner for Outstanding Baker, 2016. In announcing the awar ...

References

{{Restaurants in Boston 1989 establishments in Massachusetts Defunct restaurants in Boston