His wife asked him to take a break from the bar and restaurant scene. The break is over.
He’s been out of the bar business in Wichita for more than five years.
And now, Pat Alvarez says with a laugh, his wife has given him permission to try again.
Alvarez, a local general contractor who over the years has owned and operated places like The Port of Wichita and the former Boots & Buckles in Old Town, is about to open a new business.
Outskirtz Bar & Grill is taking over the space at 10909 E. Harry most recently occupied by Mojoe’s Grill & Bar. The space is on the end cap of a brick strip center at Harry and Greenwich.
Alvarez, who also owns Alvarez Construction and Floor Covering, says his new business will be a sports bar that serves authentic Mexican food as well as American-style bar favorites like burgers and bar appetizers. He also wants it to eventually become a venue for live music, but at the moment, the building doesn’t have the correct zoning. Alvarez is working to get that changed.
He hopes to have the new business open by September, but he says it all depends on where the city is with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We might wait until October because of COVID,” he said. “It just depends on the mandates and everything... It might even be November. It’s all up to the city of Wichita.”
Alvarez said he’s in the process of remodeling the space now. He said he had to completely start over inside.
“There’s nothing left except the bathrooms,” he said.
He plans to offer a game room and will air UFC fights and boxing matches.
Alvarez bought the Port of Wichita in 2013 and that year also opened Rage night club at 235 N. Mosley, where XY Bar is today. After a few months, he turned it into a country bar called Boots & Buckles. It was closed by 2015.
“My lease was up and my liquor license was up and my wife said that if I wanted to stay married to her, I needed to take a break from the bar business,” he said.
Alvarez, who polled his Facebook friends when trying to name Outskirtz, said he’d been thinking about getting back in the business for about a year.
“I saw that Mojoe’s had closed,” he said. “I’d never been in there, but the Port’s right down the street. And I actually like the inside of this building a lot more than the Port. It’s a lot more user friendly.”
I’ll keep you posted on an opening day for Outskirtz.
This story was originally published August 18, 2020 at 12:08 PM.
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