Mary Hansen is shutting down her restaurant until the Kansas State Fair is over.
She came from the fair, and to the fair she has returned.
I heard yesterday from Mary Hansen, the owner of Bierocks, Brats N’ BBQ at 1225 W. Douglas, who let me know that she has closed down her restaurant until after the Kansas State Fair closes on Sept. 18. Mary has been a long time food vendor at the fair, and that’s partially what inspired her last year to open her Wichita restaurant.
Her fans can still dine with her, they’ll just have to travel to Hutchinson. Mary operates the Roadhouse Bar and Grill, which is south of the big yellow slide on the fairgrounds. It serves steak burgers, chicken wings, smoked sausages, brats, ribs and more.
Speaking of the fair, I’m headed there now and will return this afternoon with reports on some of the whack-tastic fare they’re serving this year.
Deeeeeeep fried carrot cake at Shorty Small's
The Kansas State Fair is know for selling all kinds of delicious deep fried absurdities, from Oreos to Twinkies to Coca Cola.
Now, a local restaurant is having fun with its fryer, too. Aaron Eveland, the service manager of Shorty Small’s, a family restaurant at 12112 W. Maple, is a very funny guy who I follow on Twitter. A while ago, he started tweeting about a new hobby — deep frying his dessert menu.
Shorty Small’s already has deep fried Twinkies as a regular menu item, but Eveland and his staff figured why stop there?
“We started off with fried caramel cheese cake — pretty tasty,” he said. “It slowly moved through our entire dessert line up, each getting better than the first.”
They reached fried nirvana when they hit carrot cake, an idea inspired by a loyal customer. Deep fried carrot cake is not on the menu, but the staff will make it by request, and they’re selling three or four a week, Eveland said.
That oughta get you through till Fair time.