Brunswick restaurant Tao Yuan, closed since the start of the pandemic, reopened Wednesday with a new chef joining the team.
Chef-owner Cara Stadler – who also owns Bao Bao in Portland and ZaoZe Cafe in Brunswick – said Tao Yuan reopened “quietly” because it still needs to hire more staff.
“We don’t have currently a full team, so we’re limited on the number of people we can do every night,” Stadler said, noting that the restaurant is working at about about 50-70% of its normal capacity and not putting out a tasting menu at this time.
Joining the nascent staff as head chef and business partner is Leon Vuong, former chef-owner of The Frying Dutchman in Portland’s Public Market House. Because of commitments at her other venues, Stadler has said she felt she needed help getting Tao Yuan reopened, so she reached out to Vuong earlier this year.
Stadler was looking for an Asian cuisine chef with fine dining experience, and Vuong has cooked at Menton, the Barbara Lynch restaurant in Boston. The two collaborated on a Memorial Day dinner at Tao Yuan, and Stadler said she found that they share “similar sensibilities” about fine dining and high-end Asian food.
The Tao Yuan menu offers a blend of sophisticated small plates and upmarket takes on Asian street food, running generally between $6 and $24 per dish.
Tao Yuan is open from 5-9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and is accepting reservations on its website.
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