One block of Douglas is home to several Wichita restaurants, and now, they’re teaming up.
The 1700 block of East Douglas in Wichita is a rather tasty place.
It contains not only a Neapolitan-style pizzeria and a craft brewery right next door to each other, but there’s also a tiki-themed cocktail bar and a popular doughnut shop a few doors down and a soup restaurant right across the street.
Now, the proprietors of several of those businesses are rededicating themselves to a weekly event designed to draw customers to their little slice of Wichita by offering them a chance to save money.
Stacy Lattin, who co-owns Hopping Gnome Brewing with her husband, Torrey, is teaming up with neighbors Piatto Neapolitan Pizzeria, Lava & Tonic and The Donut Whole for an event called To-Go Thurs on the Block.
The event will happen every Thursday and will offer people incentives to pick up food or drinks to go from the businesses and save money in the process.
Each of the restaurants will offer an individual special each Thursday. At Hopping Gnome, “Three-Pack Thursdays” will allow customers to get three crowlers of beer to go for $10 each. The crowlers normally cost $12 each.
Meanwhile, Lava & Tonic will offer 10% off its to-go cocktails on Thursdays. and The Donut Whole will sell $10 “we-pick-’em” dozens of doughnuts to go.
In addition, anyone who has a receipt from any of the participating businesses will get 10% off at both The Donut Whole and Piatto.
Tanya’s is doing its own specials at the moment, Lattin said, but it has participated in the event in the past and may again in the future. Lattin said she’s also open to other nearby businesses joining in.
The point of the event is to remind people who might not yet be comfortable dining out that the businesses are still open and have lots of to-go options.
“We’re doing it as a way to encourage people to come to the area,” she said. “Sometime, we have to remind ourselves that we’re all in this together and that we have to stick together.”
Also at Hopping Gnome
Lattin has a few other bits of neighborly news to share.
Recently, Hopping Gnome partnered in a different way with Piatto, which is right next door and at the moment is serving food only to-go.
Because Hopping Gnome’s little tap room is open for people to sit down and enjoy beer, if customers decide they want food while visiting, they can order pizza from Piatto via a QR code and have it delivered.
That partnership has even saved a few Piatto fans who came downtown unaware that the restaurant wasn’t open for dine-in, Lattin said. They just took a seat next at the brewery and enjoyed a beer along with their pizza.
Also, Hopping Gnome is gearing up for its annual “Galentine’s Day” party, which is based on a fictitious day-before-Valentine’s day “girlfriends” holiday that was celebrated on the show “Parks and Recreation.”
This year, Feb. 13 is on a Saturday, so Hopping Gnome is adding an extra layer to the event. They’ll be open from noon to 11 p.m. serving beer, and the Wade Waffle Co. truck will be set up from noon to 4 p.m. in the vacant lot at the northwest corner of Douglas and Hydraulic, which is just a few steps from the brewery.
Also that day, Piatto will be offering a breakfast pizza and The Donut Whole will have Galentine’s Day-themed doughnuts. The brewery will be offering its new black cherry HBIC sour beer and will also have coloring sheets available and new HBIC merchandise for sale.
The event is always popular with groups of girlfriends, Lattin said.
“You can come for lunch, you can come for snack or for dinner, or you can even come later,” she said. “Or you can take it all to go.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2021 at 5:01 AM.
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