An Old Town Wichita restaurant is now selling its popular pizzas in an all-new way
The ability to pivot during the pandemic, many restaurant owners have said in recent months, is what is allowing many to survive.
One of them is Public at the Brickyard, the restaurant at 129 N. Rock Island in Old Town that during non-COVID times is one of Wichita’s most packed and popular weekend hangouts.
But since the pandemic started, no one is downtown, said Brooke Russell, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Travis, and partner Drew Thompson. Fewer people are stopping there before their nights on the town, and downtown workers are mostly set up in their home offices.
So the owners have had to try lots of new things, including selling some of their favorite menu items as well as new products online.
Now, they’re trying something else new: frozen pizza.
Last week, Public started offering four of the restaurant’s popular pizzas in frozen form, par-baked, sealed and ready to pop in home ovens.
“There are pizza places all over the country doing frozen pizzas, and we’ve had our eye on it for a while,” Russell said.
The process has been a labor of love for Travis Russell, she said, and one that took some experimenting and time to perfect. But he finally has a product he likes. And this weekend, the restaurant is promoting the pizzas with an offer: Order at least $23 worth of frozen pizza, and you can get it delivered for free to your door from 1 to 7 p.m. on Friday. Orders can be place at https://bit.ly/3pDo7W6.
There are a limited number of spaces available, so delivery orders will be taken on a first-come, first-served basis, Russell said.
The pizzas come in four varieties: margherita ($12,) pepperoni, ($13) “bar bleu que,” ($14) or salami and pepper ($13.) All four are made on the restaurant’s homemade honey wheat crust and are served “Wichita style,” a term that refers to the fact that the pizzas are baked in pans inherited from a former Pizza Hut store.
The pizzas have been popular in the one week they’ve been available, Russell said, and the restaurant is planning to offer more varieties. They’re developing a gluten-free crust. And they’re also planning to resurrect some of the once-popular pizzas they served in the restaurant but have since removed from the menu, including the Matterhorn, made with prosciutto, arugula and tomato marmalade, and the Thai Pie.
People can also order the frozen pizzas for pickup at https://public-pizzas.square.site/.
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