Chef Mike Chanthavong leads a sushi class at Chef Alyssa’s Kitchen. Kristen Wile/UP

Mike Chanthavong, former executive chef of O-Ku, is planning the launch of a food truck centering on Lao cuisine. Chanthavong left O-Ku, a South End sushi restaurant from Indigo Road Hospitality, last year. The pandemic and mental stress of telling his staff they didn’t have jobs pushed him to question whether he wanted to work in a restaurant at the same time he felt a need to spend more time with his toddler. The food truck, called Banh Banh Laos Rice & Noodle, will kick off in mid-March. It will have a small menu that changes frequently.

“This truck is going to be based on a lot of rice and noodles,” Chanthavong says. “I don’t want to say traditional, because I was born here, but these are dishes and cuisine and food that I grew up eating around the community, around the family, my mom. It’s just staple food for us. And for me, rice and noodles are a necessity in the food world.”

Other menu items include house-made sausages, a sticky rice dish with lemongrass and pork, and daily salads. The truck will source locally as much as possible.

“We want to try to keep it as hyper-local as possible, especially with what’s happened lately with everything around us,” he says. “It’s who we can reach in front of us, literally, that for us makes a big difference — hence the truck. We can go here, there.”

Chanthavong has plans to grow the food truck brand to have seven trucks, allowing them to cater events and small gatherings. While a brick-and-mortar may be in the long-term plans, the chef says their current growth strategy is a response to changing customer habits during the pandemic. 

“I think the market’s calling for it, especially right now with Covid — people are eating at home and wanting more private parties and just being able to chill at their house,” he says. “I don’t think a lot of people want to say it, but they’re enjoying it a little bit on some ends. They can do whatever they want at home and not have to go out, and everyone’s offering mobile delivery.”

The upcoming debut of Banh Banh doesn’t mean Chanthavong will no longer be serving sushi, however. He will continue to cater omakase with Homakase.