Michael Bao Bows Out of NYC, Leaves for Vietnam

Michael Bao is done with New York City, telling Gael Greene that he's leaving the city tonight to head back to Vietnam. A few weeks ago he scrapped his plans to open Bao in the former Lafayette French Pastry space, which he had previously declared would be his last New York opening anyway. The Baoster tells Greene that he's sold the lease for that space to the brothers Michael and Cyril Touchard, who will open a restaurant there called Le Baratin, after the Paris bistro of the same name.

So this marks the final, official end for the Golden Age of Bao in New York. He's already hooked up with a mysterious, big money Vietnamese investor, who has (Bao claims) already opened one restaurant in Hanoi with three more on the way in Saigon. No word on what will happen to his wife's handful of Baoguette locations.

The only thing left to do, apparently, is find a home for his puppy. As Greene reports: "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."
· Michael "Bao" Exits for Vietnam, his Land of Opportunity [Insatiable Critic]
· All Coverage of Michael Bao [~ENY~]
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