Business Casual

I ran into a very fit and relaxed Carlos Mayans today while working out at the Genesis on Socora in West Wichita. He leisurely ambled between weight lifting machines and then shot some hoops. Hard to believe he could have had many mornings as casual as this when he was mayor.

Mayans mentioned that he recently tried Sabor Latin Bar & Grille. If you’ll recall, he once talked of opening his own Latin grill.

At Sabor, Mayans ordered fried bananas but instead was served plantain chips. He liked them but they weren’t what he was expecting, so he quickly called out Chef Jason-Paul Febres. The two got to talking and realized they’d met before. It was a long, long time ago when the Venezuelan Febres was about 7 years old and visiting his uncle in Wichita.

Along with making Mayans some true fried bananas, which he reports he thoroughly enjoyed, Febres extended an invitation for Mayans to come cook in the Sabor kitchen one day.

I’ve had some of Mayans’ cooking — one dish he spent three days marinating — and can testify that he knows what he’s doing. If he takes Febres up on his offer, it’ll be a good day to order fried bananas.