An ‘upscale barbecue place’ opened in Wichita this week but will be carryout only at first
The sign mysteriously appeared on the former Dempsey’s Burger Pub space at 550 N. Rock Road when the pandemic first started.
But since then, details on Crutch BBQ have been sparse.
That’s now changed, and the new restaurant opened Thursday. Because of COVID-19, though, it will launch as a carryout-only place.
The owner of the restaurant is Steve Gaudreau, who also owns the remaining Dempsey’s Burger Pub in Clifton Square, 3700 E. Douglas, as well as Dempsey’s Biscuit Co. at 3425 E. Douglas.
The restaurant will be an “upscale barbecue place” that uses high quality meat, Gaudreau said. He’ll have brisket, burnt ends, pulled pork, turkey, ribs and several sandwiches. People will be able to choose from three styles of sauces — Kansas City-style served mild or hot, Alabama White, and North Carolina-style, which has a mustard base.
“You get the meat, then you get to sauce it how you want to sauce it,” he said.
All the sauces as well as the sides are made in-house.
At first, Gaudreau said, he’ll be serving a pared-down carryout menu. It’ll include his long list of “Crutchwiches,” which are sandwiches named after landmarks in Wichita.
The Keeper, for example, has smoked turkey, guacamole, cream cheese, sprouts and mayo on baguette. The Century II features chopped brisket, barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese on a round bun.
He’ll be serving carryout from 4 to 8 p.m. (or until he sells out) through Sunday of this week. He’ll close Monday, and then — provided he can get enough staff — he’ll open for carryout again on Tuesday. From then on, carryout hours will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
But he’s been having trouble finding employees for all three of his Wichita restaurants, Gaudreau said, which has been an issue. He’s inviting anyone looking for a restaurant job to walk into any of the three restaurants and ask for applications.
An unusual start
Gaudreau said he didn’t really mean to get into the barbecue business. On Tuesday, and he told me the long story of how Crutch came into being.
Initially, after he closed Dempsey’s east last November, he’d planned to sell the business to someone who wanted to start something new.
He struck a deal, but it soon fell apart. Then, he met with several partners who wanted to open a barbecue restaurant. They committed to buying the assets of the business.
But then the pandemic started, and several of the partners had a change of heart. The remaining partner asked Gaudreau to buy back into the business as an owner, he said, and it was a deal he couldn’t refuse.
He did some remodeling in the space, putting in new floors and booths and incorporating a room Dempsey’s used as a private dining room into the floor plan.
He set up the barbecue smokers behind glass on the former Dempsey’s patio bar, and that’s where people will pick up their carryout meals. At first, no one will go into the dining room.
Gaudreau said he will open the dining room, which will be full-service with a full bar, when the COVID-19 situation improves. He hopes that’s by November.
“My fear is that I’ll invest in a full staff and open up the doors with the six-foot rule and then all of a sudden there’s another mandate and we have to close,” he said.
Though the restaurant got off to an unexpected start, Gaudreau said he’s happy with how it turned out and loves the food.
The pandemic will actually give him a rare chance to wade into the new business carefully.
“We’re able to kind of grow into the business slowly and make sure our food is right before we go into the front of house operations.”
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 12:15 PM.
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