Brigham Circle Thai and sushi place looks to expand into Vietnamese sandwiches, breakfast

Laughing Monk Cafe, 737 Huntington Ave., hopes to more than double in size by taking over vacant space next door, which will let it expand into banh mi and breakfast, its attorney told the Boston Licensing Board today.

The board could vote tomorrow on the restaurant's expansion plans, which would see it go from 1,000 square feet to 2,500 and from 34 to 71 seats across the two rooms - one of which would stay as the current Thai and sushi restaurant, the other of which would become the sandwich place - and which would open at 7 a.m. to offer breakfast, attorney Kristen Scanlon said.

Laughing Monk is also hoping to trade in the current neighborhood-restricted beer, wine and liqueur license it won in 2017 for a regular liquor license that would let it serve harder drinks as well. However, that would depend on the city having any to dole out, which it usually doesn't because the number of liquor licenses allowed in Boston is set by the state legislature, which has rebuffed most efforts by the city in recent years to add more.