Broth is returning as a pop-up inside Saloon 139, an American Chinese restaurant at 139 Green St., more than a year after a fire shut down the Worcester ramen shop. Saloon 139 will keep its ownership and most of its menu; Broth will operate as a food concept within the existing restaurant.
Saloon 139 owner Jack Zheng remains the owner and has final say over the restaurant, according to MassLive. Broth owner Jay Grey began helping Zheng with the menu, food costs, social media and promotion, and the two eventually developed a consulting arrangement that led to the pop-up, the outlet reports. Grey has not purchased Saloon 139 and is not a partner or manager there, per the same account.
The partnership will leave about 90% of Saloon 139's menu intact, Grey said, with the restaurant having already trimmed a handful of items that weren't selling. Saloon 139's regular menu of American Chinese food and sushi will remain available for both dine-in and takeout, and the restaurant will keep its usual six-day-a-week schedule as a first-come, first-served spot that doesn't take reservations.
The Road Back to Worcester
Broth closed after a 2025 fire at @ The Common caused water damage to tenants in the building, including Broth and Odd By Worcester, forcing both businesses to shut down. By July 2026, Grey told the city that electrical power to the businesses still had not been restored after more than six months, according to a separate MassLive report. That left Broth in limbo for over a year before the Saloon 139 arrangement came together.
Licensing and Other Restaurant Recoveries
The City of Worcester says its License Commission regulates city-issued licenses, including those for purveyors of alcoholic beverages. Its general description does not explain food-service approvals or establish whether this pop-up changed Saloon 139’s licensing status, according to the City of Worcester. A separate Worcester restaurant recovery offers a shorter documented timeline: the Worcester Business Journal reported that Vivienne Coastal Mediterranean, at 446 Main St., reopened six months after a refrigerator fire forced it to close five days after opening Sept. 1.
Grey said Worcester cannot stop Broth from returning and described the pop-up as a way to keep the concept alive beyond its former location. He said he wants to reopen a restaurant people miss and sees doing so as his duty, adding that Worcester restaurants should remain accessible as consumers face higher everyday costs, the report notes.
What's On the New Menu
Broth will initially operate four days a week inside Saloon 139 — Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m., Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Takeout will not initially be available for the Broth menu, though that could change once the team settles into the space, the article notes. Grey said he expects most dishes to stay under $20, with lobster dishes the exception, and estimated a bowl of ramen paired with a cocktail should run roughly $25 to $27.
The pop-up will combine familiar Broth dishes with new ramen, burgers and cocktails. Five or six ramen options will rotate, including Nashville chicken ramen and Smokestack Barbecue Ramen, a nod to Smokestack Urban Barbecue, which occupied the space before closing in 2024. The menu will also include Big Mac dumplings and kung pao Brussels sprouts.
One new item is the Very Happy Meal, a boxed meal with a grilled pineapple teriyaki brisket burger, General Tso's chicken nuggets, togarashi fries and a toy. Broth also plans a scratch cocktail menu with $10 drinks, mai tai flights and mocktail versions.
The Chef Behind the Return
Executive chef Donald “Donnie” Altiery Jr., who previously worked at the original Broth and was preparing to take over as chef before the fire hit, will oversee the food at the new pop-up. He currently serves as executive chef at Food for Thought, which Grey said had its best year yet while Altiery worked there over the summer. Grey had initially planned to focus his attention on his Maine businesses, Food for Thought and Odd By Nature Brewing, before the Saloon 139 opportunity pulled him back to Worcester.
Some artwork from Broth's earlier life is making the trip too. Artist Joe St. Pierre created Spider-Man artwork showing the superhero eating noodles upside down for Saloon 139, while a Marvel-inspired Last Supper piece — drawn by Mark McKenna and colored by Jay Duffy — has survived Broth's closure, the fire and a flood, according to the report.
No Set Timeline Yet
The arrangement has no set end date. Grey said it could last three weeks, three months or three years, and the two sides plan to reassess after several months. If the pop-up succeeds, they may discuss a more permanent partnership, with the aim of bringing Broth back while introducing more Worcester diners to Saloon 139.
