Vietnamese restaurant Banh Meee is slated to open its second location in downtown Hartford early next month.
Chef-owner Dung “G” Tran on Thursday said the 16-seat eatery will debut Monday, March 2 at 126-130 Ann Uccello St.
Tran first launched Banh Meee, a play on banh mi, a spicy Vietnamese sandwich, as a food truck in summer 2017 before opening a Capitol Avenue location in Feb. 2018. The Ann Uccello Street restaurant will be Tran’s second location, and he said it will be more suited for take-out dining, featuring Vietnamese-style soups and beef, chicken and pork sandwiches.
“All of the favorites that made us popular will be downtown,” Tran said. “We are hoping that half of our Ann Uccello business is in catering and to go.”
Downtown Hartford retailers Jodi and Ron Morneault, owners of Morneault’s Stackpole Moore Tryon, own the building and 800-square-foot space Tran leased.
Tran, who invested nearly $50,000 to renovate his new space, was not planning to expand in the city’s central business district, but said the Morneaults offered affordable rent at the space that previously housed several food-and-beverage establishments, including Tapas Restaurant.
“The landlord gave us a deal we thought was reasonable,” he said.
During the first months of operation, the new restaurant will only be open for lunch hours between about 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will later expand into morning breakfast hours once Tran hires and trains eight new staffers.
Tran also eventually envisions opening the restaurant for late-night hours on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.
