Photo by Caitlin Abrams
Vellee Deli
We love Vellee Deli's Dragon Melt quesadilla!
And the winner of this season's new cult restaurant is ... Northeast Minneapolis! Yes, I just got off the phone with Joyce Truong, chef and co-owner of Vellee Deli with her husband Will Xiong, and she confirmed: This May will see skyway sensation Vellee Deli expand into Northeast, into the Nordhaus building on University near Surdyk's, with a new concept called Vellee.
Of course, Twin Cities foodists know Truong and Xiong's journey well. They started with the hottest food truck of 2011, called Vellee Deli, bringing foods that were a little Vietnamese, a little Hmong, and a little anything they wanted, like French and Latin American and Korean. Think curry burritos and a banh mi with Hmong-sausage, shredded papaya, and pico de gallo called the Mojo. Lines formed, a legend was born, there was duck confit. In 2015 they parked the truck and took to the Minneapolis skyways, where they've since been making some of the best skyway eats (including the great Dragon Melt quesadilla pictured above and featured in our current March issue). Turns out they were also nesting—as of this writing they've got two baby girls, ages 2 and 3, and a little country house with a chicken coop. Those fresh eggs must be pretty fortifying, because Truong and Xiong are starting a new project: Think Vellee Deli with beer, wine, and cocktails, eat-in or counter-service to-go, lunch and dinner.
via Vellee
Vellee Rendering
Rendering of the new space
"We had this idea that we could do Vellee with an expanded menu, small plates, happy hour, dinner—maybe you come in for a drink and dinner, or maybe you just grab something to go. I have recipes that I want to bring in, some of them inspired by my mother and grandmother, things that are Vietnamese and Chinese, and there are also some Hmong recipes from Will's family we want to do. And of course the things we love to eat, tacos, kimchi, some classics from the old days too, like duck confit. It felt like when we started people were a little scared of our exotic pan-Asian, but now everyone's used to it, so it feels like we can stretch some more. It seemed really right to do this all in Northeast, when we started the truck we were in Northeast all the time, and it feels like we're coming home. We really want to be part of a neighborhood again."
Truong tells me she will be developing the cocktail program on her own, and they'll have 20 taps, an outdoor patio for summer, and a base to run the truck from again, as it's just been in storage all these years.
Do you feel lucky, Northeast? You should. May 2020, the world's first Vellee, without a deli, and it's all yours.
