East West Café Returns in a New Burlington Location
Oct 29, 2024
Three years after its original location closed on the corner of North Winooski Avenue and Pearl Street in Burlington, East West Café is back in a new, larger space at 169 Church Street. Chef Samran Kaewkoet-Richland and her husband, Brett Richland, operated East West Café for six years before Brett suffered a stroke caused by genetic mitochondrial disease, leading to the Thai restaurant's closure in 2021. Now Kaewkoet-Richland is back in the kitchen, and Brett's brother, Spencer Richland, has joined her as co-owner and manager. In addition to the chef's classic Thai dishes — available for lunch and dinner — the café will soon roll out a separate morning menu with breakfast sandwiches, Parmesan potatoes, and fruit and yogurt bowls. "We'll have endless coffee and Wi-Fi, a real morning café," Spencer told Seven Days. "I'm trying to add the East-West contrast, doing the Western breakfast. That's my thing." Formerly home to El Gato Cantina — and currently separated from the rest of Church Street by Main Street construction — the restaurant can seat up to 85 diners. That's significantly more than the original East West Café, which had only a few tables, Spencer said. The owners have kept the former restaurant's bar, but the new operation is currently BYOB. Kaewkoet-Richland's Thai menu is "very similar" to her previous iteration, Spencer said, including larb gai salad, tom yum soup, pad kra pow, a rainbow of curries, and classic noodle dishes such as pad Thai and drunken noodles. The breakfast menu will be available from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Thai offerings start at 11 a.m. The original print version of this article was headlined "East West Café Returns in a Different Burlington Spot"…