The first brick-and-mortar location of Pho Wheels, a kiosk and food truck business serving Vietnamese street food, is expected to open in Burtonsville Crossing by mid-March, according to owner Tuan Vo.
Vo, a longtime Montgomery County resident who grew up in Silver Spring and graduated from Springbrook High School in 2007, told Bethesda Today that the Pho Wheels team is “almost at the finish line” to bringing the restaurant to life.
The nearly 1,700-square-foot restaurant at 15791 Old Columbia Pike will be part of the shopping center that is also home to a Sprouts Farmers Market, Eggspectation, Isaac’s Poultry Market, Moby Dick House of Kabob and Playa Bowls.
The new location will be a major step for Vo, who runs Pho Wheels at kiosks in Arlington’s Crystal City Water Park development and in Union Market in Washington, D.C. The restaurant also operates out of a food truck that makes stops around the region and serves food at events.
In addition to authentic Vietnamese dishes such as pho and bahn mi sandwiches, the eatery offers fusion bites that Vo described as “not your ordinary Vietnamese food,” including Bo-khirria tacos stuffed with cheese and Vietnamese beef stew consume, oxtail cheesesteak banh mi and oxtail pho tacos.
The Burtonsville location will also offer breakfast and brunch options, Vo said. With a larger space than that provided by the kiosks and food truck, Vo said it was possible to offer more menu items.
“It’s a lot more space, so we get to do a lot more here,” Vo said.
The new space was formerly a Starbucks with a drive-thru, according to Vo. He said he plans to incorporate the drive-thru into his restaurant, drawing inspiration from a drive-thru Vietnamese restaurant he visited while in California.
“A Vietnamese casual drive-thru is unheard of around here. It’s going to be so cool having that and being the first one to do it” in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia region, Vo said.
Aside from the drive-thru, diners at the upcoming Burtonsville eatery will be able to eat indoors and an outdoor patio, according to Vo.
Vo took over the Pho Wheels business in 2017 from the previous owner Huy Nguyen after being a customer and fan of the food truck for years, he said.
“I wanted to show all the support to him because he was doing something for the Vietnamese community [that] is just so different, you know, innovative and putting Vietnamese food on the map,” Vo said.
In the next few weeks, Vo said the Burtonsville location will be drenched in color with a large graffiti mural that aims to illustrate the story of Pho Wheels and the merging of Vo and Nguyen’s partnership.
“I’m having artwork from the inside to outside. It’s going to look crazy!” Vo said. “Like it’s going to be a restaurant but it might become a museum.”
Vo said he hopes the Burtonsville restaurant will have a “mom-and-pop” feel as well, noting that he is dedicating the restaurant to his father who died in 2023. His mother will be one of the chefs in the kitchen. In addition, Vo’s wife, Jennifer Alcazar, helps with the business’s administrative work. Vo credits her for pushing him to pursue the Burtonsville location and fulfill his entrepreneurial dream.
“It takes a village,” he said.
