A sushi pop-up known for selling out every event it has ever hosted is about to become a full-fledged restaurant in Downtown Minneapolis, and the chef behind it is asking his fans to help pay for it. Sushi by Baaska, the brand built by chef Baaska Tegshbileg, plans to open this fall inside the former Zen Box Izakaya space at 602 Washington Ave. S., bringing a modern Japanese menu to a room with a long culinary pedigree.
The pop-up-turned-restaurant is aiming for an October public opening, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune, with investor-only omakase dinners potentially starting as early as September. Rather than bring on outside equity investors, Tegshbileg is raising $200,000 directly from the community, offering backers perks that range from gift cards and limited-edition merchandise to secret omakase dinners and special access to the restaurant space itself. Tegshbileg has said the funds raised will go toward renovations, employee benefits, equipment purchases, and operating costs, and he and his staff are leaning on DIY labor and bartering with other small businesses to get the buildout done.
From Mongolian Dishwasher to Sold-Out Chef
Tegshbileg is a Mongolian immigrant who moved to Minnesota to work at the original Sushi Fix in Wayzata, a job that put him on a path few could have predicted. According to Bring Me The News, he arrived from Mongolia in 2014 and started as a dishwasher at Sushi Fix under chef Billy Tserenbat before working his way up through the kitchen and later cooking at Billy Sushi in Minneapolis's North Loop. Tegshbileg had never even tasted sushi until a summer trip to Japan at age 17, per his restaurant's own website.
Sushi by Baaska launched in 2024 and has consistently sold out its pop-up events since, building a following on Japanese fare, karaage, uni pasta, and a Wagyu beef sando that became a signature item. Momentum accelerated after Tegshbileg began hosting in-home omakase dinners in 2022, when social media exposure from former professional jockey Aaron Spiteri helped the business explode within six months, growing from four dinners a month to four dinners a week with a six-month waitlist, Racket MN reported. Spiteri reportedly hired Tegshbileg to cater a birthday party after meeting him on a Minneapolis street.
A Nomadic Run Through Minneapolis Neighborhoods
Before landing a permanent address, Sushi by Baaska spent three years as a nomadic pop-up, setting up at venues including Cobble Social House, Picnic Linden Hills, Brother Justus Whiskey Co., and chef Yia Vang's Vinai, according to the same Racket MN report. That run let Tegshbileg prove out the concept across the city before committing to a brick-and-mortar lease. To keep up with demand, he also built a direct importing relationship with a boutique seafood vendor in Japan to source specialized fish cuts, Spanish bluefin tuna, and A5 Wagyu beef, sourcing that has allowed him to charge up to $100 for specialized takeout nigiri boxes.
The pop-up's path wasn't without turbulence. In January, Sushi by Baaska abruptly pulled out of a residency at North Minneapolis natural wine bar Bar Brava after the bar owner's social media posts advocating for immigration enforcement drew widespread public backlash, as reported by Minnesota Monthly. Sous chef Ernest Robledo, who will now serve as chef de cuisine at the new restaurant, publicly announced the team's refusal to align with the bar owner's political statements at the time.
Filling a Landmark Downtown East Address
The new restaurant will carry real weight in its new home. Zen Box Izakaya operated at 602 Washington Ave. S. for more than a decade — after first launching in 2004 as a Minneapolis skyway lunch counter — before closing in November 2025 after 21 years in business under husband-and-wife owners John Ng and Lina Goh, per CBS News. The restaurant was repeatedly named among Mpls.St.Paul Magazine's 50 Best Restaurants in Minnesota and won City Pages' best ramen title in 2020, making it a longtime destination for Japanese food lovers in the city.
Zen Box's owners cited prolonged Washington Avenue street construction, a building foreclosure, and post-pandemic struggles with downtown foot traffic as key factors behind the closure, according to MPR News. Those same forces will now shape Sushi by Baaska's fortunes in Downtown East, a neighborhood Hoodline has previously spotlighted as a dining destination anchored by the Guthrie Theater and nearby retailers like Trader Joe's and the former Izzy's Ice Cream flagship.
What the New Restaurant Will Look Like
When it opens, Sushi by Baaska will seat about 50 guests inside, plus 20 more on a patio, and will include a private event space and a large sushi bar topped with solid live-edge wood, per the Star Tribune's reporting. Pete Nguyen of Gas Flow is building out the bar menu. Investors who back the crowdfunding campaign at higher tiers can also secure a full 50-guest restaurant buyout and have their name engraved on the sushi bar, part of a $25,000 Founding Member tier tied to the $200,000 fundraising goal.
Delicate seafood dishes remain central to the menu, alongside the karaage, uni pasta, and Wagyu beef sando that built the pop-up's reputation. With demand for his food already proven through years of sold-out events, Tegshbileg's real test now is whether that following can sustain a full-time storefront in a stretch of Downtown East still working to recover the foot traffic that challenged his predecessor.
