Billy Tserenbat in his new North Loop space.
Billy Tserenbat in his new North Loop space.
Oh, North Loop. You are about to get Billy-ed.
Billy Tserenbat is taking over the vacant Sweet Chow space to jump fully back into the sushi game by opening Billy Sushi in 2020.
Billy is, of course, the founder of Sushi Fix, which was the metro's first sushi food truck. Eventually he parked the truck and opened Sushi Fix as a restaurant in Wayzata in 2013, "Everyone thought I was crazy for going there." Yeah, crazy like a fox. It was a massive hit, packing in the well-heeled for Japanese whiskey, rare bottles of sake, and Wagyu beef "sushi" gilded with gold flake. There was also a shot-ski, which if you ever partook with the owner, you understand how people can get Billy-ed.
Just a few doors down, in the same Village Shops center, Billy opened the Southern Cali taco shop and mezcal font known as Baja Haus with a new partnership team in early 2017. Just a few months later, he announced that he was selling Sushi Fix to the surprise of many. He told me then that it was too good of a deal to pass up. Sadly, he's missed it more than he thought. He opened Bibuta as a truck and a skyway spot, which kept his toe in the water, but he's done waiting for the big game.
"One of my friends called me when she saw the space and said: Billy, you have to do sushi there. So I called up the guy and we worked it out." The guy is Paul Hyde of Hyde Development, who owns the building.
There's not much more than some cosmetic changes to be made to the space. As Billy walked me through, he described some of the plans. The front area that was the ice cream shop will become the bar. He'll remove some walls to make a better flow in the space, but what was the restaurant bar will become the main kitchen and sushi bar area. "I want people to see where the food is coming from, be a part of the fun." Everything will open up, there will be an entire wall of sake bottles and he's thinking a little more than 100 seats.
How does this compare with Kado no Mise just up the block? "Oh, I love what Shigey is doing over there, we're really not the same thing at all. Hopefully we can just bring more people to the block who want to eat Japanese food and have a good time."
Let's not even kid ourselves, the reason Sushi Fix was so great in the day was not only the fish, but the Billy. He manned the door, he worked the room, his laughter could be heard across the lake. Any room he's in, is the room to be in. He'll be back in the game he loves the most in the hottest neighborhood in the city. Expect the sake to start flowing and the shot-ski to start tilting as early as May 1st.
