Category Archives: Italian food

Bella Vita expansion is complete

Dec. 15, 201110:50 a.m.

Lory Wooley, left, Crystal Prud Homme DeLodden and head chef Adrian Prud Homme DeLodden.

Bella Vita Bistro, the Italian restaurant that’s one of West street’s best-kept secrets, just finished an expansion that’s added a bar and 32 more seats.

Owner Lory Wooley, who along with her daughter, Crystal, and Crystal’s chef husband Adrian Prud Homme DeLodder, opened Bella Vita in early 2010, took over the space next door formerly occupied by a nail salon and spent the past six weeks feverishly remodeling it.

The expansion, which doubled the size of the restaurant to 2,400 square feet, will allow it to cut down on sometimes long weekend-night waits,

“We were turning too many people away,” Wooley said. “I hated to do that.”

The expansion also will give Bella Vita the ability to host small events such as business meetings and wedding rehearsal dinners.

In other Bella Vita news: The restaurant is putting on a special plated New Year’s Eve dinner, which will include five courses for $50 a person. It’s taking reservations now.

Bella Vita Bistro is at 120 N. West St. For more information, call 316-941-4500.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Italian food, Restaurant remodeling | Comments

Now open: Ciao Italian Kitchen

Oct. 14, 20111:37 p.m.

I’m getting a lot of questions about Ciao Italian Kitchen, the new restaurant that opened a couple of weeks ago in the space at 1720 N. Webb Road left vacant by Press. (And Sabor before that. And Piztro’s before that.)

I spoke yesterday with owner Guillermo Perez-Munoz,who told me that the restaurant opened on Sept. 29. Ciao is still waiting on its liquor license but in the meantime is serving a menu filled with Italian comfort food dishes such as lasagna, chicken Marsala, gnocchi, pizza and more. You can see the full menu here. Warning: It’s huge.

Perez-Munoz has remodeled the interior a bit, he said, moving the bar and adding booths. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. You can reach the restaurant by calling 316-613-2426.

Can I be honest with you? With the opening of Bocconcini, Luca Italian Kitchen, Italian Bistro and now Ciao, I’m getting a little concerned about all the Italian food eating on my horizon, calorically speaking. It’s a tough job…

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , , Filed under Italian food, Just opened, Uncategorized | Comments

Question of the week: Wichita’s best pasta dish

Sept. 14, 20112:41 p.m.

This week, I’m reviewing Bocconcini Italian Eatery, a charming and popular new Italian restaurant at 4811 E. Central that offers a nice list of pasta dishes. (Though none of them are spaghetti and meatballs. In fact, red sauce is rare on Nathan Toubia’s menu.)

This week’s question: Which Wichita restaurant serves the very best pasta dish, and what is it?

Please describe your nominee in all its saucy detail in the comments section below.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Italian food, Question of the week | Comments

Now open: Italian Bistro

Aug. 11, 20113:08 p.m.

Often, restaurant owners like to open new places quietly so that they have time to make sure the waiters know the menu and the salt and pepper won’t run out before the masses descend.

Kas Zendeli is one of those restaurant owners. I’ve been stalking him for weeks, ever since I wrote my story about the Italian restaurant renaissance in Wichita. And I was only able to pin him down by showing up this afternoon at his new Italian Bistro, which he quietly opened Aug. 1 in the old Restaurant 155 space at Market Centre, First and Market downtown.

He was very nice, even offering me a slice of his heavenly homemade limoncello cake, which I highly recommend.

His menu features many of the same dishes made popular at his Valley Center restaurant, Bravo’s Italiani, but he’s added a fewer higher end dishes, including veal. The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Zendeli doesn’t have his liquor license yet but is working on it. He does the cooking himself at the new restaurant, and his 28-year-old son is keeping things afloat in Valley Center.

You can take a look at the menu here, which includes in interesting mix of traditional Italian dishes such as gnocchi, chicken Marslala, eggplant Parmigiana, lasagna, baked ravioli and more. He also has a large selection of seafood dishes made with mussels, clams and shrimp.

The restaurant accepts reservations and can be reached by calling 316-201-6128.

The stalking was worth it. Can’t wait to try it.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , Filed under Italian food, Just opened, Menus | Comments

Bocconcini closed until Friday

Aug. 11, 201110:41 a.m.

Exactly two weeks after opening the doors of his much-anticipated restaurant — Bocconcini Italian Eatery — owner Nathan Toubia had to shut the doors for a couple of days.

The problem he’s having is TOO much success. The numbers for his first two weeks of operation were double what he expected, and he quickly learned that a few areas of his restaurant weren’t quite ready. He decided to close the restaurant yesterday and today to change out his point of service system (the computer system that sends orders to the kitchen), install a new dishwasher and put in a bigger ice machine.

Toubia’s liquor license also came through, so he’s using his two-day closing to get his wine and beer offerings organized and ready to go.

Closing for a couple of days was his only option, he said.

“I would rather take care of my customers to the fullest, and I felt like we weren’t up to par with the way we were were going,” he said.

Bocconcini (whose closing was somewhat inopportunely timed in that it was the VERY DAY Carrie Rengers decided to stop in for lunch) will reopen on Friday morning. Hours for now are 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Toubia is toying with the idea of staying open till midnight on Fridays and Saturdays now that he has his liquor license, but he hasn’t decided for sure.

By the way: The most popular dish on Toubia’s menu so far has been the toasted ravioli, he said.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , Filed under Italian food | Comments

Bocconcini Italian Eatery update

July 22, 20111:14 p.m.

I’m getting the feeling that people are very excited for the opening of Nathan Toubia’s new restaurant, Bocconcini Italian Eatery, which he’s putting into the old Sugar Sisters space at 4811 E. Central. Every day I’m getting calls and e-mails about it. “The sign is up!” “The paper is off the windows!” “There are chairs inside!”

Toubia tells me that he plans to officially open the restaurant on Wednesday. Once he does, hours will be 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.

In the meantime, check out the menu, which Nathan shared today. It looks good. I’m particularly excited about the toasted homemade ravioli and the pork saltimbocca, featuring thin sliced pork tenderloin topped with prosciutto di Parma in a Marsala sauce served with polenta and broccoli raab.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under About-to-open, Italian food, Uncategorized | Comments

Sorry about that, Savute’s

July 11, 201110:31 a.m.

This photo from 2000 shows current Savute's owner, Pete Savute, left, working alongside his father, John, who died in a plane crash the following year.

On Friday, I published a story about the sudden surge of Italian restaurants in Wichita, and toward the end, I listed some of Wichita’s longtime Italian eateries.

But several readers have pointed out that I failed to mention Wichita’s oldest Italian restaurant. (Possibly its oldest restaurant, period.)

Savute’s at 3303 N. Broadway has operated in Wichita for 67 years. Current owner Pete Savute’s grandparents, immigrants from Italy, opened it in the early 1940s.

Many people still love Savute’s — its steaks, spaghetti and meatballs, and the adjoining Stick N’ Rudder Club, which features salvaged airplane seats as chairs.

I certainly did not mean to overlook such an institution. Read the story I wrote about Savute’s and its storied history when it turned 65 in 2009.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Italian food, Restaurant memories | Comments

Question of the week: Best WichItalian dish

July 6, 201112:20 p.m.

Mickey Afsharpour with Capellini De Angelo at Marchello's.

This week, I’ve written my dining story about the Italian food renaissance that’s underway in Wichita. After a long period of losing our lasagna purveyors, we’re making a comeback. Luca Italian Eatery opened two weeks ago, and by the end of the summer, we’ll have Italian Bistro and Bocconcini as well.

It got me thinking about the delicious Italian dishes served now in Wichita in places such as Luciano’s, Sweet Basil, DeFazio’s, Marchello’s and more.

Which local Italian dish is your favorite? Tell me the specific dish and which restaurant it comes from.

Also, throw my nomination in the hat for Marchello’s melty, amazing lasagna.

Make your nomination in the comments section below.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , , , , , Filed under Italian food, Question of the week, Uncategorized | Comments

Toubia chooses name: Bocconcini Italian Eatery

July 1, 201110:29 a.m.

Local chef and Bocco Deli owner Nathan Toubia is hard at work on his new Italian restaurant, which he hopes to have open mid-July in the old Sugar Sisters space at 4811 E. Central.

In the meantime, he’s chosen a name: Bocconcini Italian Eatery. “Bocconcini” (bohk-kohn-CHEE-nee) means “small mouthfuls” in Italian (even though the word itself is a big mouthful.) It’s the same name Toubia gave to the catering business he opened in 2009.

Toubia, son of the late Latour founder Antoine Toubia, says the name will make even  more sense when we see his menu, which he says I can take a look at next week. I’ll share what I learn.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , Filed under About-to-open, Italian food | Comments

A look inside Luca

June 29, 20115:12 p.m.

The lunch serving of gnocchi at Luca Italian Kitchen.

Today was the first day for lunch at Luca Italian Kitchen, the new Italian restaurant where Uptown Bistro used to be at 301 N. Mead.

I went to check out lunch and was overall pleased with my gnocchi, pillowy potato puffs mixed with bites of homemade mozzarella and covered in homemade red sauce and basil. It was $11.

The inside was bright and attractive, and the place was packed. And the natural light was begging me to take pictures. So I did.

Luca's dining room is bright and cheery at lunchtime.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Italian food, Just opened, Uncategorized | Comments