An upscale barbecue restaurant is about to open in the old Jezebel’s space in Wichita
From the outside, it still looks like Jezebel’s, the infamous adult entertainment club at 4520 E. 47th. St. South that closed after a 2015 sheriff’s investigation.
But inside, veteran Wichita restauranteur Eric King and his wife, Nikki, are about to finish a complete transformation of the 6,250 square-foot building that will turn it into a upscale barbecue restaurant called The Barbe-Q-Pit.
They plan to have the new restaurant open in the next 30 days. An east-side location should follow by the end of the year, the Kings said.
“Our motto is that we’re a five-star destination with a three-star price,” said Eric King, a veteran of the Ryan’s Steakhouse and Longhorn Steakhouse chains who helped Kassem Yassine open Delano’s Diner in 2017. Nikki also worked as a server at Delano’s Diner and had a job in the aircraft industry in Wichita.
The couple has long dreamed of having their own place and have been planning The Barbe-Q-Pit since January of 2018, they said. Because they live in Derby, they wanted to find a spot close to home and close to aircraft plants and McConnell Air Force Base, where they anticipate their lunch crowds will come from.
They looked at several spots, including a since-torn-down old Braum’s in Derby, before settling on the old Jezebel’s space, which had since housed another bar called The Mann Cave. The massive building gave them the space to do everything they wanted, Eric King said.
The restaurant will be able to seat 215 people and will have a menu that’s “85 percent barbecue,” Eric King said. At lunch, they’ll offer an all-you-can-eat buffet, and in the evenings, they’ll switch to a full-service menu that includes steaks, some seafood dishes, salads, sandwiches, rotisserie chicken and made-from-scratch sides. On Sundays, they’ll offer an elaborate brunch.
The star of the menu will likely be the pulled pork, Nikki King said. Her husband is famous for his secret recipe, she said.
“People will always say, ‘I didn’t even know it could taste like that,’” she said.
The Kings say they want the restaurant to become a destination, like Stroud’s. The food and atmosphere will be on a level with Jack Stack in Kansas City, he said.
“There are a number of people who go to Kansas City specifically for barbecue,” Eric King said. “They go to pick it up there. We said, ‘Let’s bring the Kansas City flavors to Wichita.’”
This week, construction workers were finishing up the interior, which has been completely gutted and redone and will include a full bar with high-top tables, a semi open-concept kitchen, booths, high ceilings and all new finishes. After they get up and running, the Kings plan to open a patio on the front of the business.
King, who’s “on the downhill side” of earning his MBA, said he also wants to create a culture in the restaurant that will make people want to work for him. He plans to offer tuition reimbursement, paid time off and other benefits.
The Kings already eying some spots on the east side and hope to have their second restaurant opened by the end of 2019, they said.
“There’s a strategic plan,” Eric King said. “If all goes well, this is the start of a chain.”
I’ll keep you updated on opening day for the new restaurant.
This story was originally published May 2, 2019 at 5:01 AM.
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