He gave many Wichita musicians a start at The Artichoke. Now, one of them is buying it
One of Wichita’s most iconic bars is about to get new owners.
But those who are fans of The Artichoke Sandwich Bar at 811 N. Broadway have nothing to worry about. One of the people taking over is longtime member of The Artichoke family and says he has no intention of changing much of anything.
Pat Audley, who founded the bar and restaurant in 1984, is selling it to Uche Onwugbufor, a popular Wichita musician who got his start performing on the bar’s stage. Onwugbufor’s business partner is his longtime friend Tracy Rutledge.
Audley, the Irishman and longtime teacher who grew the business into a popular spot to hear live music and eat addictive sandwiches, has decided it’s time for a new chapter in his life, he said. He hasn’t been feeling well lately, even though the cancer he was diagnosed with a decade ago has stabilized.
Onwugbufor said that after he sold his insurance business, he decided that he’d like to own a bar. He partnered with Rutledge, a local insurance agent he’d befriended while in his 20s. They started actively looking for a business to buy.
“I said something to Pat, and he said, ‘Well, what about this place?’” Onwugbufor said. “And I said, ‘I didn’t know this place was for sale.’”
The two came to an agreement, and back in March, Onwugbufor started working at The Artichoke, learning the business backward and forward. He even manned the kitchen and learned how to make all of Audley’s sandwiches, including its signature, the Famous No. 8, made with turkey, bacon, Swiss and cream cheese on an onion hoagie.
Besides making a few adjustments to the interior, Onwugbufor said, the partners don’t plan to change anything else — not the menu, not the music, not the hours, not the staff.
“Why would you?” he said.
Onwugbufor, known for his big voice and Americana rock-n-roll sound, has been performing in venues around Wichita for almost 20 years and says Audley was the first person who ever paid him to perform. Audley also provided an early stage for well-known local musicians like Jeremiah Johnsen, Nikki Moddelmog and Ted Farha, he said, and the little bar has become widely known as one of the best places in town to see live acoustic music.
The place is meaningful to many music fans, Onwugbufor said, and he wanted to make sure it endured.
“I would hate for it to become a sushi bar,” he said.
Onwugbufor, 55, is well-known in the Wichita community. In addition to his frequent performances at places like Mort’s and the Brickyard under the band name Uche and the Crash, he worked in and managed QuikTrip stores in Wichita for 22 years. Rutledge has three Allstate insurance stores in Wichita.
Audley, whose father was a first-generation Irish immigrant, spent his childhood in the 1950s working for 25 cents an hour at his family’s restaurant, a drive-in/diner called Topps.
He eventually became a teacher, but looking for a way to supplement his income, he started a bar with some partners in the space at Broadway and Murdock that had previously been home to a raucous biker hangout called Elbow Room.
Audley worked in USD 259 for 34 years, before retiring in 2011. He’s been living with terminal prostate cancer since 2009.
At some point, Onwugbufor said, he and Rutledge plan to throw a party in Audley’s honor. But he’ll still be around for the next several weeks. The deal is set to be finalized on Dec. 15.
“It’s going to be hard,” Audley said. “It’s been a part of my life for so long.”
This story was originally published November 12, 2019 at 2:38 PM.
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