Former Jerseys space will soon be home to a second location of this Wichita restaurant

Jerseys Grill and Bar closed late last month after seven years, but soon, a new restaurant will be moving into the space at K-96 and Webb.

The owners of Los Compadres, a Mexican restaurant that’s earned a following on the west-side, is opening its second location in the space. It should be ready by the first week of December.

Owners Carlos Renteria and Jaime Martinez said they initially had planned to move their restaurant from its current spot at 3827 W. 13th St., next door to the Knolla’s at 13th and West, to the Jerseys space at 3213 N. Toben.

But when their west-side customers caught wind of the plan, they urged them not to go.

“Our current customers, they were not thrilled about driving out to the the east side,” Renteria said.

The two decided to keep both open.

The east-side restaurant will become the Los Compadres “flagship,” Renteria said. It will be more modern and will have an open kitchen where people can see the cooks at work. At the moment, the owners are working on some cosmetic updates at the new place, he said.

The new Los Compadres will offer the same menu as the original, and it will serve alcohol and have a menu of happy hour specials. It will also have a special lunch menu.

The east-side building originally went up to house Italian chain Johnny Carino’s, but that restaurant closed in early 2011. Jerseys opened in the space later that year.

Renteria and Martinez originally opened their Los Compadres in a little building at the corner of Central and Zoo Boulevard in June 2015. They moved to their bigger west-side space at 13th and West last December.

This story was originally published November 12, 2018 at 9:29 AM.