Opened this week in former Oh Bento space

Fri, 11/13/2015 - 01:00 pm

Kay Stephens

Pho Sizzle owner Tom Pham in his new working space on Leland Street in Rockland. (Photo by Kay Stephens)

Behind Tom Pham is where the new Asian market will be in a couple of months.

The dining area of Pho Sizzle’s new home in a building on Leland Street in Rocland.

Outside the forlorn Pho Sizzle truck is parked, ready for a new life with a new owner.

A couple of tables offer an array of sauces, spices and condiments to go with the dishes.

A jasmine rice with pork belly lunch dish is $8

Pho Sizzle owner Tom Pham in his new working space on Leland Street in Rockland. (Photo by Kay Stephens)

Behind Tom Pham is where the new Asian market will be in a couple of months.

The dining area of Pho Sizzle’s new home in a building on Leland Street in Rocland.

Outside the forlorn Pho Sizzle truck is parked, ready for a new life with a new owner.

A couple of tables offer an array of sauces, spices and condiments to go with the dishes.

A jasmine rice with pork belly lunch dish is $8

ROCKLAND — It’s been a little more than a year-and-a-half since Tom Pham rolled out his bright yellow food truck, Pho Sizzle, in Buoy Park in Rockland. Whipping up authentic Vietnamese cuisine with local ingredients, his food truck quickly became a local favorite. Business grew so fast, it didn’t make sense to shut it down for the winter. Instead, he decided to lease space at 10 Leland St. in Rockland, the site of the old Oh Bento restaurant.

“This summer was really busy all summer and I had a lot of repeat customers, so I thought why not keep going year-round,” said Pham. The move is permanent. He’s sold the yellow food truck to another local entrepreneur who intends to sell tacos out of it by summer.

He’s renamed the business Pho Sizzle Vietnamese Cafe and Asian Market. Inside the tiny two-room dining area, Pham stands in an industrial kitchen, a one-man show with one server helping out in the dining area. He just reopened in the new space this week and on their first day they served about 20 tables.

The biggest change? “I can walk from one side of the room to the other now.”

In a couple of months he intends to open an Asian market in the back of the restaurant. He’ll stock the kind of dry goods ingredients that most people would have to go to Portland to get, such as Asian herbs and noodles. He’ll have some refrigerated items like kimchi as well.

“The only thing I can’t really do is sell fresh produce out of here, as it goes bad quickly if not sold,” he said.

He will keep the same kind of lunch/dinner menu he had working out of the food truck, and will be rotating specials depending on available organic ingredients during the week.

While he won’t be able to take phone take-out orders given his limited staff, he will now be able to process credit cards.

Pham is the second food truck owner to expand into a restaurant in Rockland. In October, food truck owner Malcolm Bedell paired up with the owners of Comida restaurant to share space.

“Running a food truck is the best way to test drive your menu and clientele if you ever want to expand into a restaurant,” he said. Check out their Facebook page for menu and hours.

Reached Kay Stephens at news@penbaypilot.com.