By Amy Zimmer
DNAinfo News Editor
TURTLE BAY — Schnitzel & Things, the popular food truck and two-time Vendy Award finalist, is going brick-and-mortar.
Brothers Oleg and Gene Voss are expecting to open an 800 square-foot storefront with 12 seats on Third Avenue, between 45th and 46th streets, on Monday.
After nearly two years on the streets, this will be the first of what they hope will be three Schnitzel & Things shops.
They plan to continue running their truck and will use the new store's kitchen for the mobile eatery too. It will allow them to expand their menu from fried breaded chicken, pork and cod cutlets to include veal schnitzel and eggplant schnitzel as well as ginger chicken and a new salad bar.
"This was in the works ever since we opened the truck and started our brand," said Gene Voss. "We wanted to see whether the concept would work, and it did."
He is looking forward to the new location: "It's our target market," Voss said. "It's our niche. It's in between the residential and business areas, so it works out for dinner and delivery and lunchtime for office workers."
Voss is also eager to get out of the truck, which serves up their Austrian fare at five locations: Hudson and King streets, 46th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues, Park Avenue between 26th and 27th streets, 52nd Street between Sixth and Seventh avenues and 52nd Street at Lexington Avenue.
"We won't have to deal with cops everyday chasing us away," Voss said. "We're not going to be freezing everyday in winter or standing in 110 degrees in the summer."
That will be the job of new employees who will run the truck.
Several of the new wave of gourmet trucks have opened storefronts — while keeping their trucks on the street — including Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and Souvlaki GR on the Lower East Side. But the CupcakeStop, which opened its Greenwich Village storefront last December, closed last week, according to reports.
