Jeff Taibe Opens Southeast Asian Concept “Next Door” Inside of Taproot in Norwalk

Taibe, who has lived and learned in Malaysia, Singapore, and Japan, says he doesn’t want his food to be all fried and sweet, like Chinese food and even some Thai food has become. “I want this to be flavorful, bright, and fun. Food rooted in Southeast Asian flavors should always hit five different points of your palette. I believe in punches—and balancing the punch out.”

Jeff Taibe had a big 2023.

Not only did Taibe relocate his six-year Bethel restaurant, Taproot, to South Norwalk, he received much deserved recognition at December’s edition of the CRAzies Awards in the form of a “Best Restaurant Fairfield County” win.

When I covered Taibe’s move in the middle of last year, he hinted at using Taproot’s back room—usually used for overflow on busy weekend dinner services—for popups, standup comedy, live music, tiki drinks, and possibly the return of his Japanese-inspired Bushido menu that he unveiled in Bethel some years ago.

Pork + crab dumpling w/creamy peanut - sesame sauce

Some of that has, in fact, gone down. But what Taibe didn’t reveal then was that he was bringing back something else that began in Bethel in 2021…

Call it Taproot v2.0, or simply call it Southeast Asian. Taproot calls it “Next Door.” And at Taproot Next Door, fans of when he flipped the script and changed his concept in Bethel can have all of that and then some in SoNo every week from Tuesday through Sunday.

Tahu goreng - fried tofu, sweet peanut sauce, chilis, bean sprouts, fresh herbs

Some of Next Door’s larger fare are two different bahn mi (smoked cabbage/fried tofu or pork belly), crab fried rice, cold peanut - sesame noodles, chicken koa soi, shrimp wonton noodles, short rib rendang, and this, a whole fried bronzini w/green mango salad, shallots, and a side of rice.

Taproot, the O.G. Taproot, however, isn’t going anywhere. The main bar and the main dining room? Still Taproot. If that’s the food you want, go there. If your taste buds yearn for the flavors of Singapore, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, and other SE Asian countries, go past both rooms and you’re Next Door.

“They’re two different concepts and that’s the fun part,” Taibe says. “This is meant to be our workshop. We might run it for 3 – 6 months or longer, but if it takes off and we can find another spot that makes sense, maybe we open another brick-and-mortar, then maybe we try another concept out of here. Sundays were always something different in Bethel with Bushido, BBQ, tasting menus, and we did this that ended up being good for takeout.”

If you missed that menu switch when Taproot was in Bethel, you’re in for a lot of fun, tasty small plates that pack a “punch.” Amongst two different kinds of dumplings (pork + crab with peanut-sesame sauce and pork with Szechuan chili oil) and smoked mushroom spring rolls, are some bites you may not immediately recognize.

One of those is the pig’s ear miang kum, translated, that’s “one bite.” It’s a DIY smattering of crunchy slices of pig’s ear that are meant to be placed in a Thai pepper leaf, then throw a little bit of everything else in there (shrimp, spicy chilis, cilantro, onion, ginger, coconut), drip some of that peanut-coconut-tamarind sauce on top, then toss it back.

Another, the son-in-law eggs, is a dish Taibe had to teach us about.

Son-in-law eggs

Pork collar skewers

“When a husband is not treating his wife well, the mother of the daughter, as a warning, will make hard boiled eggs for her daughter’s husband,” he explains. “It’s basically saying, ‘hey, straighten up and treat my daughter correctly.’ It’s got a tamarind palm sugar glaze with lots of shallot oil in the glaze. I do it with shaved cabbage, red chilis, which are very hot, so be careful, and mint. We toss ‘em in rice flour and fry them so they are soft boiled inside. On top, we load them with fried shallots and cilantro.”

Other dishes, may, in fact, be a little reminiscent of regular Taproot. The pork collar skewer—still on the menu at both concepts—gets a switch up at Next Door. The pork is sous vide for 12 hours before it’s roasted over charcoal and gets a constant basting of sweet tamari glaze throughout the cook, then it’s hit with a smattering of sesame seeds, cilantro, and a lime wedge if you’d like some acid. The difference? At Taproot, the pork collar skewer comes with a fish caramel glaze. One of the reasons for the differing pork on a stick is Taibe said, “a kid will actually eat something like a soy glaze, but maybe not a fish sauce.”

Raw beef salad

And if you recall my piece from last May, Taibe had a Laos-inspired larb (or laab) on the menu using salmon as the protein. Next Door’s version uses beef that’s seared crispy on the outside and kept raw inside.

“We slice it raw, then toss it with Thai basil, mint, cilantro, chilis, shallots, bean sprouts, and Vietnamese nước mam that’s similar to a nước chấm that I buzz together with a handful of cilantro,” Taibe says. “It’s citrusy, bright, and flavorful. That white dust on there is sticky rice cooked slow in a wok for four hours that’s tossed with lemongrass and galangal, then we grind it to like a powder for texture and a roasted flavor.”

SoNo Sling - gin, curacao, smoked pineapple, grenadine, cherry bitters

Uncle’s Medicine - Iwai Whisky, gula melaka (sugar made from palm sap), pandan, curacao

As you might suspect, the bar program implores a lot of SE Asian flavors, too. A Singapore sling (renamed SoNo Sling), a soon to come clarified milk punch, and a spin on a negroni, served from a tap, is comprised of oak-aged gin, coconut oil washed Campari, pandan, and cherry bitters, are some of what you can expect to sip on. Soon, and already in the works, Taproot Next Door is in the process of creating a Southeast Asian style gin with the nearby SoNo1420, so look out for that in their future cocktails.

Left - coconut panna cotta (smoked pineapple, basil seeds, puffed rice paper), top right - mango sorbet (pomegranate seeds, toasted coconut), bottom right - pandan ice cream w/peanuts and gula melaka

As the year progresses, Taibe should have his home greenhouse ready to grow herbs and assorted produce for the restaurants. At Next Door, you should notice the big terrarium in the center of the room where he’s already growing Thai basil and shiso.

When those herbs start to sprout, think sometime in March, Taproot Next Door will be open not only for dinner, but for lunch as well.

63-71 N Main Street, Norwalk
203.857.1494, taprootct.com