After several unsuccessful attempts to reopen The Rice Barn restaurant, owner Charles Intha ended his lease and left the space at the end of December. The location at 1037 Great Plain Ave. has been vacant since the restaurant closed in May 2022.
At the Feb. 21 Board of Health meeting, Environmental Health staff member Sai Palani gave the update on the status of The Rice Barn space and said there may be interest in it continuing to be a restaurant. “Once we get more information about who might be moving in, we’ll probably get a permit for it and move forward,” he said. “That’s great news because it was on hold for quite a while.”
The landlord for the building, Triantos Thanos of Dedham, said he expects to eventually have another restaurant in that space.
Intha, a former architect, took over The Rice Barn in 2013 from sisters Ladda and Janya Arakputhanum, who originally opened the restaurant in 2007 serving contemporary Thai and Asian cuisine. He also owned and operated the adjacent Architrave for several years beginning in 2015, offering sustainable toys and art classes and parties.
In addition to the challenges of COVID-19, Intha faced a variety of difficulties at The Rice Barn. He was cited by the Board of Health for numerous food safety violations and, in 2015, was sued by three employees for not paying overtime wages. In April 2022, the Board suspended his operations for health violations and when he continued to operate, the Select Board suspended his license and The Rice Barn closed in May 2022. Intha appeared at several Board of Health meetings in 2023 seeking to reopen but was unable to remedy a plumbing violation to meet the building code.
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