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Curiocity: Friday Feature -- From Food Truck To Eatery

Snow fell on Thursday in parts of Minnesota -- that means the food truck season is sadly nearing an end.

But fear not, fellow food truck followers. It seems the new trend from our mobile munchers is to turn their trucks into fabulous new restaurants.

The latest truck to join the brick-and-mortar chain? Our very first sushi truck -- Sushi Fix.

Sushi Fix owner Enkhbileg "Billy" Tserenbat, a former sushi chef at Yumi in Excelsior, announced plans on Wednesday that he, too, would be opening a new restaurant under his food truck moniker.

The new restaurant will be in Wayzata, in the former Black's Ford Restaurant spot. Tserenbat said the new place will have 8 to 10 seats at the sushi bar, plus another 24 seats in the dining room.

"(The) reason we chose Wayzata is, all summer long we have been doing a bunch of private sushi parties along Lake Minnetonka. Traveling back and forth between Minneapolis and Lake Minnetonka," he said. "So we decided that if we open a sushi bar in Wayzata, at least it's less traveling but perfect access to downtown Minneapolis -- and still we can serve downtowners during lunch hours."

Sushi Fix Rolls
(credit: CBS)

The new restaurant will offer a more extensive menu than what's featured on the truck, Tserenbat said. With his great connection through the Tsukiji fish market in Japan, as well as a connection in Hawaii, he said they'll also be offering a seasonal menu.

The dinner-only restaurant will also serve beer and sake, he said. And fear not -- the sushi truck will still be up and running during the summer months.

If all goes well, Tserenbat is hopeful they'll be open by late December or early January.

Sushi Fix joins a club of food trucks heading to restaurants. Smack Shack announced plans to move into the North Loop neighborhood in March, taking over a former warehouse space on Washington Avenue North.

The ladies of Chef Shack bought a bar and grill in Bay City, Wis., which they're hoping to open soon. They say the new place has a definite cabin feel to it -- and of course, only the best local food from the area.

Foxy Falafel celebrated the grand opening of their St. Paul restaurant on Aug. 3. The restaurant's open Monday through Saturday at 791 Raymond Ave., serving flavorful falafels and plenty of choices for the vegetarian, vegan or gluten-free diner.

World Street Kitchen took an unconventional approach -- by food truck standards. Brothers Saed and Sameh Wadi started with a restaurant, Minneapolis' delicious Saffron, and expanded into a food truck for the summer months.

If this food truck trend is any indication of what we can expect going forward, it'll certainly be the best of both worlds. And a sure-fire cure to the cold, food-truck-less months of winter.

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