A Montgomery County native will open the region’s first drive-thru Vietnamese restaurant on April 18 at Burtonsville Crossing.
Tuan Vo, a Burtonsville resident, owns PhoWheels, which has served “modernized Vietnamese street food” for 13 years in the D.C., Maryland and Virginia area, according to its website. PhoWheels currently has kiosks in Arlington and at Union Market in Northeast Washington, D.C., and a food truck that operates around the region.
The family-based business received a $300,000 permit to construct a restaurant at Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville. The site, formerly a Starbucks drive-thru, began undergoing construction in December 2024.
Vo plans to include the drive-thru aspect into his restaurant, inspired by a drive-thru Vietnamese restaurant he visited in California, according to Bethesda Today.
“A Vietnamese casual drive-thru is unheard of around here,” he tells Bethesda Today. “It’s going to be so cool having that and being the first one to do it” in the DMV region.
PhoWheels’ restaurant also offers the option to dine in or eat outside on a patio.
The Burtonsville location will also serve breakfast and brunch options, Vo tells Bethesda Today, due to the larger space a brick-and-mortar restaurant allows.
Four years after graduating from Springbrook High School in 2008, Vo sampled food from the PhoWheels food truck. Huy Nguyen, the former owner, now Vo’s friend and business partner, offered Vo the opportunity to take over the business, which he did in 2017 alongside his family, The MoCoShow reports.
“We began taking PhoWheels all over the DMV, particularly in Montgomery County, our hometown,” Vo tells The MoCoShow. “We serve innovative Vietnamese dishes like our famous pork belly tacos, Vietnamese birria — also known as Bo khirria — pho and bánh mì on a croissant, along with a variety of exciting specials.”
Pho, a Vietnamese staple, is a soup dish of rice noodles and a protein topped with fresh herbs. PhoWheels’ broth is cooked for 18 hours.
Bánh mì is a Vietnamese submarine sandwich — a baguette typically filled with marinated pork, chicken or tofu with pickled vegetables, herbs and a condiment such as mayo and pâté.
The eatery also offers fusion dishes. A PhoWheels favorite is the Vietnamese taco, which is wrapped in a flaky Malaysian roti canai taco shell and drizzled with spicy mayo made in house.
PhoWheels opened its first kiosk in October 2023 at National Landing Water Park in Arlington.
When Vo discovered that retail developer EDENS was developing a new shopping center in Burtonsville, he saw it as the “perfect opportunity to become an integral part of the community” in which he lives.
PhoWheels’ drive-thru and dine-in restaurant will open at 15791 Old Columbia Pike in Burtonsville on April 18.
