Ramon Gonzales admits he’s a bit nervous about Monday.

That’s the day — Monday, Aug. 6 — that he and his mother, Linda, are hoping to swing open the doors of Fat Noodle, 811 E. Wetmore Road, the brick-and-mortar version of their 4-year-old ramen food truck.

“I’m really excited,” Gonzales added. “Our concept and new menu items are going to be awesome.”

Opening a brick-and-mortar version of their popular food truck has been nearly two years in the making. They shopped possible locations and at one point had been drawing up plans with Tucson restaurant designer/consultant John Foster for a space that they ultimately determined was not a good fit.

The Gonzaleses and Foster developed a bond through the experience and became partners in the restaurant, which will occupy the space once home to Brick & Bell Cafe. It’s adjacent to the Seasons student housing complex, which is about as perfect a fit as you can get when you’re serving ramen — arguably a primary food group for college students.

But unlike the packaged three for $1 ramen you get at the store, Fat Noodle is entirely made from scratch, from the noodles to the stock. Gonzales, a trained baker whose first food truck venture — Street Delights — focused on desserts, spends hours each day crafting handmade Japanese noodles. The chicken- and pork-based stock, seasoned with onions, garlic and ginger, simmers eight to 10 hours.

Several of the dishes come with vegetables and a braised Japanese-style pulled pork, and most are topped with a soft-boiled egg. They also serve vegetarian ramen using a made-from-scratch vegetable stock.

Ramen was Linda Gonzales’ idea. A few months after her son rolled out Street Delights in 2011, the mother-son team acquired a second food truck and had no idea what to do with it. Gonzales said his mother proposed ramen after watching a Food Network show about Ivan Ramen, a successful New York City Japanese noodle restaurant.

“I started working with dough and working with noodles and it just fell into place,” said Gonzales, whose noodle education included going to Los Angeles to study Singapore and Japanese ramen traditions.

Ramen has grown in popularity in the four years since the Gonzaleses launched Fat Noodle, which will also continue to operate as a food truck.

“I think ramen was getting a little bit of a buzz (in 2014), but not where it is now,” he said.

Gonzales will run the kitchen while his mother manages the restaurant. By Aug. 2, when they were initially expected to open, they already had hired about a dozen workers and were beginning training.

The restaurant opening was pushed back because of a delay in getting the final permits, said Foster. But he is confident that everything will be a go by lunchtime Monday.

Which is not a minute too soon for Gonzales.

“I am ready,” he said. “I have been dying for this opportunity so I am ready to go.”

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Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com or 573-4642. On Twitter @Starburch