The end of an era: Longtime Wichita restaurant moving from original space after 63 years
For 63 years, Town & Country has been a landmark on West Kellogg, drawing crowds in for chicken fried steak, eggs and bacon, and prime rib and baked potatoes.
But soon, the restaurant’s signature rooster will fly south for good.
Earlier this month, I told you about Billy Wood, a former Town & Country customer who stepped in to run the restaurant after Larry Conover died in March.
At the time, he announced a plan to take over the former Paula’s Bar & Grill space at K-42 and Maize Road and open a version of Town & Country he’ll call Town & Country Classic.
He said then that he was having trouble working out a deal with the landlords to keep the longtime building at 4702 W. Kellogg but hoped he would still be able to do so and have two Town & Country restaurants running.
Now, several weeks have passed, and Wood still has not heard from the landlords, he said. He’s decided to cut his losses on West Kellogg and focus on the new Town & Country Classic, which he hopes to have open by the middle of June.
Troy Farha of NAI Martens, who is representing the owner of the building, said that he’s already shown it to a few potential tenants who might take it over.
“Our intent is for it to continue to operate as a restaurant,” he said.
Meanwhile, Wood said he’s making progress on the new space for Town & Country.
“We’re doing pretty well over there,” Wood said. “We’re getting cleaning and painting done. Carpet will be put in this next week, and new kitchen appliances will be here within two weeks.”
That means, though, that a little piece of Wichita history will soon be gone.
Town & Country, which Jay Conover founded in 1957, is one of Wichita’s oldest still-operating restaurants. An old black-and-white photo of a chef slicing meat in one of the back dining rooms in the 1950s is a favorite still circulated among history buffs in Wichita.
When the restaurant first opened, attached to the Town & Country Lodge, the city limit was West street, and the land surrounding the restaurant was undeveloped - nothing but dusty lots with a few houses visible in the distance.
Conover’s son, Larry, started working in the restaurant at age 11 and eventually took the restaurant over, running it from 1980 until he died of throat cancer earlier this year at age 73. Town & Country was known for its vinyl booths, down-home cooking and neon rooster glowing over West Kellogg.
Town & Country Classic won’t have as big a menu that the original did, Wood said, but he’s hiring the same cooks and much of the longtime wait staff.
I’ll keep you posted on opening day.
This story was originally published May 26, 2020 at 11:02 AM with the headline "The end of an era: Longtime Wichita restaurant moving from original space after 63 years."
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