Lillia Callum-Penso | Greenville News

The owner of a popular Greenville restaurant who helped bring Vietnamese food to the fore in Greenville, and who was known for his warm and caring spirit and his talent as a chef, Huy Tran passed away Monday of a heart attack. He was 47.

Tran opened Mekong Restaurant with his mother, Lan Tran in 2011 after spending years in finer dining American restaurants.

Shortly after the news of Tran’s death was shared on Wednesday afternoon, Mekong’s Facebook page was already flooded with comments from friends and patrons, all expressing their sadness at the loss of such a warm and talented soul.

Tran, who was born in Saigon, Vietnam in 1972, came to the United States with his mother in 1982. He attended Wade Hampton High School and excelled at math and science and eventually went to Clemson and then to MUSC for medical school.

MYKAL McELDOWNEY/Staff

But, by that point, Tran had found his passion for food. He spent hours as a teenager working at the restaurant his mother owned, then located near the old Memorial Stadium, and the call to the kitchen was strong, Tran told The Greenville News in a 2017 interview.

Once in Charleston, he changed course and decided to attend culinary school instead, enrolling at Johnson & Wales.

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Cooking is where Tran found is calling, said longtime friend and fellow chef, Jason Scholz, owner of Stella's Southern Bistro and Stella's Southern Brasserie. Scholz met Tran while both were chefs in Charleston in the 90s. Tran’s effervescent and humble personality shone through immediately.

His talent did, too.

JOSH MORGAN/Staff

“I thought up until that point that I was pretty competent in the kitchen," Scholz said. “He had one speed and it was fast.”

In addition, Tran was a versatile chef with the ability to cook anything from Mexican to Italian and classical French to Vietnamese.

After leaving Charleston, Tran spent time cooking in Colorado and then Mississippi before returning to Greenville, where he set out to open a family restaurant with his mom.

When the restaurant took longer to open than anticipated, Tran joined the kitchen team at Scholz’s Stella’s Southern Bistro in Simpsonville. Tran ended up cooking there for nearly three years, a period Scholz called “the most enjoyable time in my career.”

At one point, Scholz said he even tried to get Tran to partner with him on a modern noodle shop, bu Tran wanted to cook the cuisine he had grown up with and he wanted to cook with his mom, Scholz said.

“His family and his culture were the most important things to him,” Scholz said.

JOSH MORGAN/Staff

Mekong, located in a converted fast food restaurant space, is known for its Pho and its rich flavors. The Trans use fresh herbs from an herb garden they grow out back. The restaurant has garnered a devoted following of diners who go for the food and for the kindness of the owners.

At the time of his death, Scholz said, Tran was looking for a location for a possible second Mekong restaurant.

“It’s a tremendous loss for the Greenville food community,” Scholz said, his voice quavering slightly with the weight of sadness. “The Upstate lost a treasure."