Delano restaurant owner plans second location on Wichita’s east side

Two and a half years after opening his Yokohama Ramen Joint at at 613 W. Douglas in Delano, restauranteur Jack Fukuda is ready to expand.

Though he hasn’t settled on an exact location yet, Fukuda says he’s planning his second restaurant for somewhere n the east side. He hopes to have it open later this year at the earliest or spring 2019 at the latest.

“Ramen is such a popular thing still,” Fukuda said. “We opened two and a half years ago, and we still get good business. Customers always ask us every day, ‘When are you going to open a second location? When are you going to get a bigger place?’”

The new restaurant will likely be called Yokohama Ramen Izakaya, he said, and in addition to the ramen soup the original Yokohama has become known for, the second restaurant will also offer alcoholic beverages like sake as well as several appetizers. In Japan, an ‘izakaya’ is a type of bar that serves drinks and small plates, and it’s becoming trendy in big cities.

“It’s like a Japanese style of tapas,” Fukuda said, adding that the menu will likely include dishes made with Wagyu beef and fish imported from Japan.

Fukuda said the new restaurant will also be much larger than the original, which has room for only about 30 diners.

I’ll let you know when Fukuda finds a spot for the new restaurant.

This story was originally published September 17, 2018 at 1:24 PM.