Category Archives: Menu changes

Chipotle: Burritos for teachers, margaritas for all

May 2, 201310:24 a.m.

Chipotle’s new Patron margarita

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, Chipotle has added margaritas to its menu. Real margaritas. I approve.

The restaurant seems like an odd place to get a Patron margarita, but it’s nice to have options.

Chipotle started serving the margaritas on Monday, and they were kind enough to share the recipe, which you’ll find below.

Also, Chipotle is offering a buy-one-get-one deal for teachers. It’s good from 4 to close on Tuesday, May 7. Teachers with a faculty ID who buy one burrito, burrito bowl or order of tacos can get another free.

Wichita’s Chipotle restaurants are at 7130 W. Maple, 515 N. Hillside, 535 S. Rock Road, 3015 N. Rock Road and 2241 N. Maize Road.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Menu changes, Mexican food, Restaurant deals | Comments

Changes at Charlie’s Pizza Taco

Dec. 13, 201210:41 a.m.

Behold: the Pizza Taco

Wichita isn’t Pratt.

So the owners of Wichita’s Charlie’s Pizza Taco, which opened last November at 602 N. Tyler Road, has made some adjustments as it learns to adjust to its Wichita audience.

They’ve added some things to the menu, including a half-pizza taco with chips, chili con queso and pico for $6.50 at the lunch hours. They’ve also added a pizza taco made with chicken.

The restaurant now has a patio for outdoor seating plus live music and $1 beer draws on Friday and Saturday nights. Owners also are getting Charlie’s getting involved with charity projects around town, and those who come in to the restaurant with a church bulletin can get 10 percent of  the cost of their meal donated back to their church.

A pizza taco, by the way, is a beautiful invention that’s pizza in flavor and taco in shape. You can read my review of the restaurant here.

Charlie’s Pizza Taco has operated at 105 W. First in Pratt since 1965. The Wichita location was opened a year ago by founder Charlie Hoffman’s son, Dave, and his brother-in-law, Tim Holmes.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Menu changes | Comments

River City Brewing Co. gets a menu remodel

Aug. 2, 201210:17 a.m.

River City Brewing Co., Wichita’s original brewery at 150 N. Mosley in Old Town, recently has revamped its menu a bit, adding a long list of dishes that focus on using beer as an ingredient in the cooking. The new menu rolled out on Monday.

Owner Chris Arnold sent me the descriptions of some of the new dishes, which made me pretty hungry. Among them:

–Shrimp salad made with shrimp that’s been marinated and  cooked in wheat beer and chipotles with fresh greens, avocado, tomato, cucumber, peppers and queso fresco.

– Bone-in pork chop grilled and topped with Brown Ale mustard cream sauce alongside roasted baby potatoes and fresh veggies.

– Fish tacos filled with tilapia marinated in herbs and Amber Ale with fresh lettuce, avocado relish, queso fresco and a sauce of chipotles and beer on corn or flour tortillas.

– Herb marinated chicken breast marinated in wheat beer and spices then grilled and served with roasted baby potatoes and veggies.

–  Beer brat pizza featuring a beer crust topped with ale mustard sauce, thinly sliced beer brats, beer braised onions, red peppers and mozzarella cheese.

 – Beer cheese steak sandwich made with sliced beef topped with onions, peppers and mushrooms then slathered in homemade beer cheese sauce.

 – Stout Brownie dessert composed of a chocolate brownie made with Emerald City Stout and topped with chocolate ganache, salty pretzels and a big scoop of homemade vanilla stout ice-cream and caramel sauce.

Arnold also told me about a stout float, which he makes by pouring vanilla stout beer over a serving of the stout ice cream. As someone who’s been experimenting with wine floats for years, I approve of that idea heartily.

River City Brewing Co. is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Mondays and Tuesdays, 11 a.m. to midnight Wednesdays and Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays and noon to 10 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 316-263-2739.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Beer, Menu changes | Comments

Three new downtown breakfast options

March 9, 201210:28 a.m.

B&C Barbecue in downtown Wichita recently introduced a breakfast buffet.

Wichita loves breakfast, and more and more, Wichita restaurants love to serve it.

Downtown Wichita is a breakfast eater’s paradise these days, what with The Beacon, Egg Cetera and Old Mill Tasty Shop and Rain’s weekend offerings.

Now, three more are joining the bacon-and-eggs fray.

Several weeks ago, Holy land Mediterranean Grill at 217 E. Douglas began offering a daily breakfast that offers traditional items such as omelets, bacon and eggs Benedict along with Mediterranean touches such as falafel and hummus. (I don’t know about you, but falafel and eggs sounds fabulous to me.) The breakfast is served a la carte and is available from 6 to 9 a.m. seven days a week.

Meanwhile, Carey Maurer has added a breakfast buffet at his  B&C Barbecue at 355 N. Washington. It’s served from 6 to 9 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays and includes dishes such as hashbrowns, pancakes, French toast sticks, scrambled eggs and more and is $8.25 a person.

Within the next week or two, Hamburger Hero at 221 S. Broadway, which I reviewed today, also will begin serving breakfast. It’ll offer bacon and eggs, pancakes and biscuits and gravy and will be offered from 7 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays.

I’m still thinking about falafel and eggs.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , , , , Filed under Breakfast, Menu changes | Comments

Lotus Leaf losing crepes, adding chef

March 1, 20122:06 p.m.

By March 20, Lotus Leaf Cafe & Creperie at  613 W. Douglas, will become just Lotus Leaf Cafe.

Owner Jacquelyn Keefer, who has been struggling for a while to find a way to make her restaurant fit her original vision, said she has hired a new chef — kitchen veteran Rebecca Gold — and will likely soon drop crepes from the restaurant’s menu and name.

When Lotus Leaf turned 1 in November, Keefer announced that she’d hired a new chef, Ya Ya’s and Uptown Bistro veteran Beau Franklin. But that partnership didn’t work out, Keefer said. She wanted to find a chef who would be on board with her vision of healthy food with natural ingredients, and she thinks she’s found it in Gold.

Rebecca Gold, back in her Uptown Bistro pastry chef days.

Gold, who has worked at Uptown Bistro, Cero’s and Chester’s Chophouse, starts on Monday.

“She has more of an idea of what I really wanted from the beginning,” Keefer said. “I’m tired of conforming to chefs’ ideas of what healthy options are.”

Keefer and Gold have agreed that crepes will no longer be a focus on the menu, though it’s possible that a crepe or two will be on the new menu that they’ll debut on March 20. It’ll feature more salads, more soups and more menu items made with ingredients such as quinoa and cous cous.

“I’m really looking forward to having a woman in the kitchen,” Keefer said.

Until then, the current menu will remain in place, she said, though Gold will likely add her own touches.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , , , Filed under Chefs, Healthy restaurant food, Menu changes | Comments

Zaytun adds pizza and other Indo-Pak deliciousness

Dec. 16, 201110:51 a.m.

Zaytun, the fabulous Middle Eastern restaurant at 2020 N. Woodlwan, has recently updated its menu.

When he called to tell me he was going to open on Christmas Day, owner Syed Abbas also told me about the many additions to his lunch and dinner menu. You can view the menu here. The new items are in bold.

Abbas is particularly excited about the addition of some Mediterranean pizzas, which he cooks in a brick pizza oven left behind by the building’s previous tenant. They’re unlike a typical pizza, he said, and their descriptions support that claim. I’ll take the Spicy Seekh Kabab pizza, which is topped with cilantro chutney, green chili, onion and mozzarella cheese.

He’s also added a Tandoori chicken dish and several vegetarian selections, and Abbas enthusiastically recommended his new rib eye steak, which is charbroiled and served with charbroiled steak with rosemary garlic potato and pomegranate mushroom sauce.

One other change: Zaytun now allows lunch customers to order a la carte from the menu or choose the always-different Indo-Pak lunch buffet.

Zaytun is open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays for lunch. Dinner is served from 5 to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays and from 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Abbas also offers an elaborate Pakistani brunch from 11 to 3 p.m. on Sundays.

Call 316-613-2474 for more information.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Indian food, Mediterranean food, Menu changes, Menus | Comments

New things are bubbling at Fizz

Sept. 14, 201110:58 a.m.

A burger and fries from Fizz Burgers & Bottles.

The owners of Fizz Burgers & Bottles, the almost 1-year-old burger restaurant at 7718 E 37th St. N., have some changes and additions planned that’ll keep things bubbling through the fall.

For starters, they’ve begun offering a Mexican specialty every Wednesday, provided by a member of the kitchen staff who wanted to show off his skills. Last week, they offered chicken adobo. Today’s special is beef enchiladas. The dish-of-the-week will be available for lunch and dinner every Wednesday.

Also, Fizz is working on a menu update, which should debut in about a month. They’re adding a couple of new sandwiches, said owner Scott Bergeson, and they’re also putting homemade chili in the menu. Customers who want to sample Fizz’s chili recipe early can try it at the Wagonmasters Downtown Chili Cookoff, which is Sept. 24. Fizz will have a booth.

I also asked Bergeson about rumors that he’s eying a west-side location. He said he’s considered that idea but wants to make sure the east-side store is on solid footing first.

For more info about Fizz, call them at 316-260-2888.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Burgers, Menu changes | Comments

Menu additions at two local favorites

Sept. 12, 201111:54 a.m.

Carlos O' Kelly's new southwestern egg rolls.

A couple of local restaurants have made some changes or additions to their menus that will make fall much tastier.

One is Carlos O’Kelly’s, the locally owned Mexican chain that each year challenges its 41 restaurants to a cook-off. The best dishes the stores come up with are added to the menu for a limited time.

On Sunday, the restaurant started serving southwestern egg rolls created in Marion, Iowa; Hawaiian chicken fajitas, teriyaki glazed and topped with pineapple pick de gallo, from Ames, Iowa; Poblano pork pastel, featuring sweet corn masa cakes smothered with braised pork, from Rochester, Minn.; a fajita steak burrito created in  Sioux City, Iowa; and a cinnamon flautas dessert invented in Manhattan.

The new dishes are available now through the end of October.

Watermark Cafe, the cozy little eatery inside Watermark Books, also has added some items to its menu, including several sandwiches ( the PrairyErth made with grilled chicken, provolone, radishes, sunflower seeds and lettuce topped with pesto aioli on an herbed flatbread sounds interesting); a black-eyed pea salad; and breakfast items such as a Nutella and banana-filled puffed pastry, and “Green Eggs & Spam,” made with egg, pepper jack cheese and fried Spam on a toasted bagel.

You can find Watermark’s full menu on its website. Cafe hours are 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , Filed under Menu changes, Menus, Mexican food | Comments

Seating, breakfast plans at British Banger Company

Aug. 19, 20113:56 p.m.

Look how happy Pete White is about all the newness at his restaurant.

British Banger Company, the until-now take-out only restaurant at 1713 W. Douglas, has just added some indoor seating.

Last week, owner Pete White moved things around and made room for about 12 seats in his restaurant.

“We had people walk in and then walk right out because we had no seating and it was so hot outside,” White said. “Hopefully, this will bring us a bit more business.”

White, who has had a successful run selling his cottage pies and bangers (British-style sausage) at the Andover Farmers’ Market this year, said that once the market ends in October, he plans to add breakfast to the options at his restaurant. On the menu will be popular traditional British items such as potato cakes, more bangers and a fabulous Spam creation.

For now, he’s open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays. For more information, call 316-253-1503.

By Denise Neil | Tags: Filed under Menu changes | Comments

Update on The Anchor’s hours, menu, remodel plans

June 14, 20112:17 p.m.

The Achor's door announces its intermediate intentions.

I sat down for a chit-chat this morning with Anchor owner Schane Gross and her new chef, Doug Pitts, to talk about the changes underway at the bar and restaurant at 1109 E. Douglas. More changes are coming.

Here’s a breakdown:

Hours: As Gross and Pitts work to resolve service issues and decide what they want The Anchor to be, they’ve temporarily altered the hours. They had been closed on Mondays and Sundays, but now, they’ve reopened on Mondays. Sunday hours will return eventually, and Pitts will serve a Sunday-only brunch. Look for that in the next six weeks or so.

Menu: Several weeks ago, Gross and Pitts streamlined the previous menu, keeping customer favorites and eliminating what they described as “redundancy.” The current menu has about 30 items — appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, salads and other favorites. On June 27, Pitts will add daily dinner items to the menu, including a steak frites. He also will add several items to the core menu and will begin offering a streamlined after-10 p.m. bar menu, which will feature appetizers and a couple of burgers. Gross and Pitts also are trying to focus on more local, seasonal ingredients and have begun offering products from Yoder Meats.

Remodel: Gross says she finally has bids and is working on getting the banks lined up so she can break ground on her remodel. She’s changed her plans from when she originally announced last year. The wall separating her two dining rooms will remain, she said. The west side of the restaurant will lose its bar and serve exclusively as a dining room. The east side will be the bar area. Though she doesn’t have specific dates yet, Gross hopes the remodel will be underway before summer’s over. She still plans to annex the space just east of the building for a banquet hall.

Gross said she’s send me the completed menu in the next couple of days, and I’ll post it then.

By Denise Neil | Tags: , Filed under Menu changes, Menus, Restaurant remodeling | Comments