https://n2v.paloaltoonline.com/blogs/p/print/2015/07/30/madame-tam-asian-bistro-shutters-in-downtown-palo-alto

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Madame Tam Asian Bistro shutters in downtown Palo Alto

Madame Tam Asian Bistro closed at the end of last month after five years of operation on University Avenue in Palo Alto.

Ringo Le, son of owner Tam Minh Le, said his mother decided to shutter the Asian-fusion restaurant in the wake of his father's death last year.

"Though she loves the restaurant industry, the loss took a toll on our mother, Tam Le, and she was no longer in the right mindset to handle the daily demands of a full service restaurant," Ringo said.

Ringo's mother opened her restaurant at 320 University Ave. in 2010, soon thereafter laying claim to the space next door (322 University) as well.

Ringo said his mother will take a "one-year sabbatical" with plans to turn her experience running a restaurant in Palo Alto into a film about the local industry. (Ringo himself is a screenwriter, and said imparting some of his professional knowledge to his mother for her own project has been a part of her healing process.)

After her husband's death, Tam also became a vegetarian, and hopes to reopen a vegetarian restaurant in Palo Alto "when the time feels right," Ringo said.