Wichita’s most recognizable and seasoned chef is about to open his own Italian restaurant
Over the past two decades, he’s become one of Wichita’s most well-known chefs and has headed many of Wichita’s fine-dining restaurant kitchens, some more than once.
Now, Jeremy Wade is finally opening his own restaurant.
Wade, who for the past two years has been the head chef at YaYa’s Eurobistro, plans to open a new restaurant he’ll call Napoli Italian Eatery. It’ll be in the space formerly occupied by dog-friendly restaurant Fetch Bistro, 7718 E 37th St. North, and he hopes to have it open by the first week of October.
The food will be “modern Italian,” he said, and the kitchen will make its pasta from scratch. Pizza will also be on the menu.
Wade, 45, lives in Bel Aire and said that when he started thinking about opening his own place, he looked at another vacant restaurant space in the area. But when he found the spot at Siena Plaza, which is owned by Caro Development, he decided it was perfect.
The strip center, which opened in 2005, already has an Italian look and feel.
“When I saw this space, I saw the potential,” he said. “It’s got seating for 90 inside and 100 outside, and a really nice patio.”
Landlord Chuck Caro has offered to level the outdoor space on the east side of the restaurant, where Fetch had a dog run, and turn it into a massive patio with a fireplace and lights strung above it.
People are clamoring for outdoor dining during the pandemic, Wade said.
“It will have that European courtyard feel,” he said. “The patio is almost the biggest factor that drew me to the space.”
Wade’s last day at YaYa’s was Sunday.
Wade said his fiance, Courtney Mathews, who he met when he was working as a chef at The Candle Club and who also was working at YaYa’s with him, will be his partner in the restaurant. The couple has two young sons.
He doesn’t have to do too much to the interior of the Fetch space, which was famously remodeled by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in 2017 as part of an episode of his show “24 Hours to Hell and Back.”
Although he’s removed all the dog-friendly touches Ramsay added to the interior, otherwise the restaurant just needed some paint and other touch-ups.
“It’s got a really good shell,” Wade said. “What they did inside is really nice. It’s really clean. It’s open-air, and I feel like it’s going to be high energy.”
Wade’s long resume includes jobs cooking at many of Wichita’s fine dining restaurants, including The Candle Club, Lakeside Club, Uptown Bistro and Cibola. He also worked at YaYa’s once before, from 2007 to 2009.
He was the head chef at Siena Tuscan Steakhouse in 2015 when he accepted a job as a territory manager with Seattle Fish Co., a Denver-based seafood distributor. But the lure of the kitchen was too strong, and he returned to cooking when YaYa’s owner Ty Issa approached him with a job offer in 2018.
So what about YaYa’s?
Meanwhile, Issa said he was not upset by Wade’s news, mainly because his kitchen is so full of talent at the moment.
Several years ago, Issa could not find a head chef no matter what he tried, including when he spent big money to hire a headhunter.
But during Wade’s tenure, two other talented chefs joined the kitchen staff, and now, they’ll split head chef duties at the restaurant.
One is Jason Rickard, a Wichita native who worked in restaurants in Denver but moved back to town to help launch Taco Locale in Revolutsia with his friends Carlos Vera and Myranda Miller. He left Taco Locale when the pandemic started and found a spot working with Wade at YaYa’s, where he impressed Issa.
(In another interesting plot twist, Wade has hired Rickard’s brother, Jordan — who lost his head chef job at Greystone during pandemic cost-cutting — to help him launch his new restaurant.)
YaYa’s other co-head chef is David Wooding, whose long resume in restaurants includes partnerships in three Crested Butte, Colorado, eateries.
“Between Jason and David, Jeremy felt like YaYa’s was in excellent hands,” Issa said. “This is a great opportunity for Jeremy and a great opportunity for the two guys here, too. They’re the most talented two kids.”
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