• Kae Alexander

Since Kae Alexander began catering out of her Shelburne home in the summer of 2012, her culinary career has progressed with Solomon Grundy-like speed. In May of last year, she opened Vermont Thai Restaurant in Milton. On March 16, the restaurant closed.

Fans of the Thai chef's hard-to-find specialties, such as deep-fried eggs in tamarind sauce and pork-filled kai jeow omelettes, shouldn't count her out yet, says Alexander's husband and de facto translator, Bill.

"We hope to go back to the original plan — either a small café or buy a big, old Vermont farmhouse and convert part of it to a little café with takeout," Bill Alexander explains. His wife once owned three seafood restaurants in her native Thailand.

The 50-seat Milton restaurant was the only option the couple found after they sold their Shelburne home last winter, Alexander continues. But the former TNL's Restaurant proved too spacious to fit the exotic restaurant's modest appeal in working-class Milton. Busy Friday and Saturday nights couldn't make up for "dead" weekdays, Alexander says. "We kind of slogged it out for a year, but after that, it wasn't economically feasible."

After Kae Alexander returns from an upcoming trip to Thailand, she and Bill will begin searching for a new home for her uncommon brand of Thai cuisine.

The original print version of this article was headlined "Bye-bye Thai"