August 20, 2012 |
Short Order
Chastened but not humbled Michael “Bao” Huynh will open “last” NYC joint
Serial restaurant dabbler and assassinator Michael Bao Huynh said he will open Bao, a “modern-classic” 35 seat Vietnamese in the West Village September 15, his last gasp in NYC before returning for good to Vietnam. His backer at 26 Greenwich Ave. is an entertainment “big shot” from Vietnam, he told friends.
Specialty items will be available at dinner only when he pledges to be cooking himself. He plans to recycle old favorites like his daikon duck hash and crispy red snapper with chili, pineapple and tomatoes, along with new notions like foie gras fried rice and seared scallop chowder with Japanese yam and Chinese bacon.
Huynh is committed to a Fashion Week opening to coincide with the premiere of Vietnam’s Next Top Model 2012.
After breaking a string of partners’ hearts with his congenital wanderlust, the promiscuous restaurant hopper has been wounded too, “Only the landlords make money,” he says. So he’s sold or surrendered Obao, Mikey Burger, Bia, “everything.” except for the Baoguettes owned by his wife, Thao Nguyen, and tiny BaoBQ that he has moved from St. Mark’s Place to 120 MacDougal Street where “We’ll just do carryout.” Pho Sure is on the market, he adds. “People love bad boys, the Baoster boasted on the eve of opening Mikey’s Burger.
Now he’s promoting his latest move as his most ambitious act in NYC before moving to Vietnam for good “to teach and share my expertise.”
“I’m getting old” – he’s 48 – “and I’m tired of the restaurant business in New York. It’s easier to make money in Vietnam right now.”
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