Michael “Bao” exits NYC for Vietnam, his Land of Opportunity

 
Photo by Steven Richter

          Serial restaurant dabbler and assassinator Michael “Bao” Huynh has given up on trying to make money after countless diehard efforts and is leaving tonight for Vietnam, the land of opportunity.  Bao III, Obao, Mickey’s Burger, Bia, BaoBQ, Bar Bao, Pho Sure. Nothing really worked for Hunyh, at least not for long, except his wife Thao Nguhyen’s Baoguette sandwich shops.

          “I’m 38. I’m tired. Only the landlords make money,” he said. “In Vietnam people are willing to spend money.” He claims his powerful and connected partner has already opened one spot in Hanoi, with three others imminent in Saigon. With typical bluster he mused about opening a Brooklyn Diner in Vietnam.

          He was trying to find a home for his six-week-old Pekinese because he can only take two dogs on the plane with him.

          Huynh claims he has sold his West Village lease for $100,000 to restaurateur brothers Michael and Cyril Touchard of Tout Va Bien and Les Coulottes.  They’ll open Le Baratin there, Huynh says. That’s the name of a lively Paris bistro in Belleville, popular with gourmands for the owner’s home-style cooking.

Huynh says wife Thao Nguyen's Baogette will stay open and she'll join him later.

          The Baoster had promised that his new DOB III at 26 Greenwich Street would be his last dance before returning home after 25 years in America. But it fell victim to a delayed opening and pinchpenny décor. The dump was almost invisible due to a landmark ruling that he couldn’t take down the “Lafayette, French Bakery Sign” overhead. Then the blackout after Sandy finished him off.

Click on these early Michael Huynh stories:

Unhumbled Baoster considers opening Brooklyn Diner in Vietnam

Is Michael Huynh desperate or brilliant? Taste his Quesadilla.

DOB111: Bao the Scorpian

Neighbors Nix Gastropub

If this is Tuesday, It must be Obao

Chef-wanderers Michael Huynh and Alex Garcia Plan Cuban-Asian Joint

Let Them Drink Beer, says Michael Bao Huynh

Pho Sure Pho Bulus

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Photographs may not be used without permission from Gael Greene. Copyright 2013. All rights reserved.

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