“Barbara turned 60 earlier this year. She is looking at retirement, at a much healthier lifestyle,” Tomlinson-Hall said. “She knew that she was not going to be back in the kitchens the way she always has been, and so made the decision it was in her best interest to sell the entities.”
No. 9 Park will remain open through the end of the year, hosting its traditional Christmas lunches and other holiday festivities. Then it will close for renovations, with the space under new ownership, according to Tomlinson-Hall. The current team at No. 9 Park, including chef de cuisine Andrew Simonich and general manager Bertilda Grochowski, will remain in place.
The No. 9 Park deal is nearly finalized. B&G Oysters will continue operating for the time being. “It’s business as usual until we find an agreeable deal,” said Tomlinson-Hall.
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.”
The Rudder, a seasonal restaurant, has already closed. Lynch opened the Gloucester business after some delays and with high hopes: In a September 2022 Globe profile, she hoped to host salon nights and offer retail and cooking classes.
“Luxury is not going to go away, but in my dream world I want it to be community-driven and accessible and delicious,” she said at the time. “I want you to be nurtured.”
It was a homecoming for Lynch, who lives in Gloucester but spent her career overseeing destination restaurants such as No. 9 Park and Menton. These restaurants were place-makers in Boston since the late 1990s, when she opened No. 9 Park, part of the ascension of pioneering female chefs including Jody Adams and Lydia Shire.
“With her strong sense of place in this old, old building, Lynch, a native of South Boston who cooked at Olives and at Galleria Italiana, is on her way to creating a Boston landmark. No. 9 Park is worth the anticipation,” former Globe critic Alison Arnett wrote in 1998.
In recent years, though, Lynch’s career has been marked by turmoil: a drunk driving arrest, charges of toxic workplace culture after the deaths of two Menton staffers, and closures of signature establishments, including The Butcher Shop, Menton, and Stir.
In 2023, she issued a statement reflecting on the turbulence and vowing to focus on her Gloucester restaurant:
“I have defied the odds over 25 years as a woman chef opening eight award-winning restaurants,” she said. “I am now hands-on in the all-consuming effort of creating an outstanding new restaurant in Gloucester. I built each of the Boston restaurants with my passion, vision and experience to run at a high level. I will not let these recent attacks by my detractors destroy what I’ve built. I love what I do and I’m determined to move forward and grow, mentoring more chefs to greatness.”
Former colleagues, many of whom have gone on to success elsewhere, reacted to the news with a mix of wistfulness and nostalgia.
“No. 9 Park was one of the top three restaurants in town when I was there. It was us, Clio, and Radius. . . . We were doing multicourse tasting menus, pasta tastings. We had a separate cafe menu that was more casual and fun. Whole animal programs. We pushed really hard and didn’t take any shortcuts,” said former No. 9 Park chef de cuisine David Bazirgan, who worked for Lynch from 1998 until 2003 and went on to Uni.
Jason Bond, who went on to run Bondir, became No. 9 Park’s chef de cuisine in 2000, the heyday of Boston fine dining. He called Lynch a good manager who operated on instinct and adventure.
“She was very creative; she was very good at pushing you to do better and to push yourself. I think she was probably really good at managing people even if she wasn’t doing it consciously,” he said.
For example, when Bond began getting interested in cheese, she allowed him to launch a cheese program, rolling a cart of 20 selections through the dining room, and encouraged him to begin making charcuterie.
“If we had ideas, she let us run with them,” he said.
Kristen D. Murray, Lynch’s former pastry chef at No. 9 Park and elsewhere from 2002 to 2008, recalled those early days with gratitude.
“When I worked for Barbara, she meant so much to so many people in the city, from all walks of life. She represented hope. Her tenacity and drive showed great results, and she was generous in her push. She took me to France in 2004 (I had never been) to be part of Les Nouvelles Mères Cuisinières. This trip and connection to so many inspirational women chefs changed my life,” Murray said.
Thomas Mastricola grew up with Lynch in South Boston and later became No. 9 Park’s opening bar and floor manager from 1998 until 2001. Although he acknowledges Lynch’s ups and downs in recent years, he looks back on those early years of No. 9 Park with pride.
“It was a special time for the city. We were one of the restaurants that started a renaissance: We did classes before anyone did classes. It was an amazing opening staff who wanted to learn; some of the most professional people I ever worked with,” Mastricola said. “Back in the day, she was an amazing person. . . . It was fun; it wasn’t work. We learned something every day.”
Kara Baskin can be reached at kara.baskin@globe.com. Follow her @kcbaskin. Devra First can be reached at devra.first@globe.com. Follow her @devrafirst.