She closed her Wichita comfort food restaurant but will return soon with catfish and more
Fans of fried catfish have been mourning the loss of a short-lived comfort food restaurant called Fyre, which opened this spring then closed a couple of weeks ago at 2724 E. Central, right across the street from the shipping container mall Revolutsia.
But owner Celese Ponder has good news for those fans. She’ll be back.
Ponder, a single mother of three, said that although it pained her to close the restaurant, she plans to open another version of it as a food truck.
She hopes to have the truck on the road by the start of the spring food truck season and already has a catchy, sensible name for it: Fyre Truck.
“It was a great start for Fyre,” she said of the restaurant. “We’re not done with what we’re doing.”
Ponder said the building she was in at 2724 E. Central had too many problems, and she couldn’t keep operating there. The decision was tough, she said, but a food truck makes more sense. She’s already started looking at rigs and has her eye on one.
The restaurant served down-home dishes like fried catfish, fried chicken, chicken fingers, okra, seasoned fries, greens and mac and cheese. It also had a list of rotating specials like chicken-fried chicken, meatloaf, chicken etouffee, jambalaya and oxtails.
But people really loved her catfish, she said, so it will be the star of her food truck. She plans to serve fish fillets and fish sandwiches and will likely have fried chicken sandwiches as well.
Ponder said she earned many regular customers during her short tenure, and she’s looking forward to seeing them again in the spring.
“I’ve been sad the past couple of weeks,” she said.
Until she opens the truck, Ponder said, she’s still taking catering orders. Customer can call 316-854-0677 to set something up.
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