Dec. 7, 2022

Watecha Bowl is closing its restaurant at the end of the month and returning to its food truck roots.

Lawrence West, who owns the Native American restaurant at 2305 W. Madison St. with his wife, Sophie, had hoped to lease the adjoining space so he could offer seating and restrooms.

He couldn’t reach an agreement with the landlord, so that’s one of the reasons he decided to close the restaurant, which could offer seating only on the patio when the weather was nice.

“There’s a number of factors that played into it,” West said.

“With the COVID and how people are eating different and the plateau of the market, the employee situation, the rental, all of the elements just came together. It was like, let’s go.”

They still own the newer food truck they started using earlier this year.

“We love to travel, and we want to be out there, and that’s what we intended to do was feed the people, and yes, we do feed a lot of people here but not like it was when we were in full swing with multiple locations and the food truck. Business is rough. I mean it’s not bad. Our move is not a bad transition at all. It’s very much a signal of what Watecha is, going back to where we started. Sometimes you have to go back to the start.”

West started the food truck in March 2020, selling his signature Indian tacos and buffalo burgers on fry bread, and the couple added the restaurant about a year later.

The restaurant’s final day will be Dec. 31. The equipment that they won’t use on the food truck is for sale. They’ll spend a few days dismantling the restaurant and plan to be out on the truck after that.

“Primarily, we’ll do South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Iowa, but we’re accepting dates nationally, California to New York. We have New Mexico on there, we’ll be in Oklahoma next year, we’ll be in Northern California.”

But there will be plenty of days on the streets of Sioux Falls, he said. They plan to serve lunch on weekdays and return to events in the area.

West said he plans to open a full-service restaurant someday, but that won’t be for a couple of years.