North Shore Golf SPRING 2023

6 >>> SPRING 2023
A TASTE OF MARBLEHEAD
Meet Me @ Mai Tai Lounge for dinner and drinks
Opened in December 2021, Mai Tai
Lounge is a relatively new addition
to the Marblehead restaurant scene.
Walking up the wooden front steps,
customers are greeted with a modern
mix of lounge and restaurant.
The name “Mai Tai” refers to
a cocktail made of rum, Curaçao
liqueur, orgeat syrup and lime juice.
It's one of the characteristic cocktails
in Tiki culture — which kind of speaks
to the restaurant's blend of eating and
drinking.
Mai Tai Lounge is owner Amanda
Breen's first restaurant business. She
believes there's room for really good
local restaurants so that Marbleheaders
don't have to travel to Boston to have a
great dining experience.
Mai Tai Lounge managed to open
its door amid the pandemic. Breen
said the pandemic did complicate the
preparation, but the community was
ready to dine out.
At the end of 2021, Mai Tai served
its first customer and now has the
capacity to serve around 66 seated
customers, not including the outdoor
area.
Thomas Saltsman — the artist who
installed an Egyptian cobra goddess
in town during Halloween — was the
designer of the restaurant. According
Breen, the average price of a dish is
around $25.
“I think it was really just that the
space and the abilities and the people
came together at the right time,” said
Breen.
Manager Kevin Le also played a
role in turning Mai Tai Lounge into
a reality. He has been in the catering
industry for 17 years and is the creator
of every dish and cocktail at Mai Tai
Lounge. Breen also said Le has been
instrumental in training the staff in
how to prepare the dishes.
Before he came to Marblehead,
Le worked in Washington, D.C. at
many high-end restaurants. Later,
he obtained his certificate at the Le
Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts
in Boston.
Le met Breen at the very end of a
bar in Swampscott. Le was serving
as the bartender and manager, and
Breen was a customer. After that, they
together brainstormed the idea of a
Kevin Le is the general manager of Mai Tai Lounge on Pleasant Street.
fusion-food restaurant, the results of
Le’s 17 years of practice.
Mai Tai is Le’s dream come true
after decades of work. The food on
the menu traces back to Vietnam,
Thailand, Germany and China, Le
said.
Le suggested customers try the
lobster rangoon. “It's fresh milk with a
local lobster and green Swiss onions.
It's got a crispy on the outside.”
He also recommends the “Mai
Mango Scallop.” He added: “With a
little drop of butter over the top with
mango salsa, they have fresh mango
and a little sweetness.”
Mai Tai Lounge is inseparable
from its bar section, which features
a full page of drinks including nine
signature Mai Tai cocktails with fun
names including High Tide Mai Thai,
a gluten-free vodka cocktail named
after the coastal location. Another
called Meet Me @ Mai Tai is a
lychee-flavored vodka cocktail.
The bar also serves a drink called
In Chamber, which includes a very
rare 12-year Japanese whisky and is
Kevin Le tosses the lobster pad Thai in a wok.
limited to one per guest. It's served on
the rocks and presented in a smoke
box when served.
PHOTOS | SPENSER HASAK
Mai Tai Lounge encourages
customers to make reservations if they
wish to dine on the weekends.
165 Pleasant St, Marblehead, MA • 781-990-3309 • www.themaitailounge.com