This Wichita restaurant closed in 2014, but two different businesses still serve its food
When Bill Rowe closed his 16-year-old Cajun restaurant Red Bean’s Bayou Grill back in 2014, Wichitans were not happy.
They’d grown to love the restaurant, which first opened in 1998, and they’d become quite attached to its tomato bisque soup, its pork loin Thibideaux and its jambalaya. Fat Tuesday — or even a regular Tuesday — would never be the same, they feared.
Now, six Fat Tuesdays and nearly seven years later, Wichita has learned to live without Red Bean’s, and that’s been made much easier by the fact that Rowe, whose Blue Moon Caterers operates out of the Villa Luna Venue at 8406 W. Central, brings its food back once a year for a big Fat Tuesday shindig. His annual Red Bean’s fest happened Tuesday, although this year, it was a to-go-only affair.
But over the past few months, yet another Red Bean’s option has appeared. A Facebook page called Red Beans To Go popped up at the start of the pandemic, advertising take-and-bake Red Bean’s favorites to go from The Coop, a coffee shop and co-op restaurant and bakery space at 104 N. Baltimore in Derby.
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The new Red Bean’s business, Rowe says, is not owned by him but by Rick Jeffrey, the chef who came up with the recipes when restaurateur Richard Waite opened the original Red Bean’s at 7088 E. Kellogg in 1998. The original restaurant was forced to move because of Kellogg construction, but by 2005, Waite had three Red Bean’s: at 306 N. Rock Road, at 7447 W. 21st St. and at 239 W. Greenway in Derby.
Jeffrey, who’d spent 22 years developing recipes for Carlos O’Kelly’s, was Waite’s chef and partner for several years, and though he eventually moved on to other things, the Red Bean’s menu was “heavily influenced by him,” Rowe said.
Rowe bought the last remaining Red Bean’s, the one near 21st and Ridge, from Waite in 2008 and owned it until he decided to close in 2014.
“Richard, who has been a friend for a very long time, had asked when I bought Red Bean’s that if I ceased to operate, he’d like to have the option of continuing the brand. I was agreeable to this,” Rowe said.
After Jeffrey returned to Wichita, Rowe said, Waite called and told him that Jeffrey wanted to resurrect Red Bean’s as a carryout business. Rowe agreed.
“Rick is a good operator, and I felt that he would be faithful to the amazing product quality that Richard had created and I continued,” Rowe said. “I hear he’s doing well, and I’m really happy about that.”
Jeffrey did not return several messages when I tried to reach him about his new business, but I visited The Coop on Tuesday, and his section of the refrigerated space was well stocked with things like corn fritters, Voodoo Chicken, Firecracker Pasta and Red Beans and Rice with Andouille. The tomato bisque soup was all gone, and the employee at The Coop said someone came in early and bought it all up.
According to the Red Beans To Go Facebook page, Jeffrey plans to continue to stock the shelves throughout the week and will add Pork Loin Thibideaux on Thursday and shrimp creole, shrimp etouffee, seafood gumbo and buttercream pasta with shrimp on Friday.
The menu rotates all the time, and Jeffrey has also been offering old Red Bean’s favorites like crawfish etouffee and Cajun Chicken Cordon Blue.
Meanwhile, Rowe said, Red Bean’s dishes are available through his Blue Moon Caterers year-round, and he also plans to continue his annual Fat Tuesday party with a Red Bean’s buffet for years to come.
“It’s a huge event, and we serve enormous crowds of Red Bean’s fans,” he said.
It’s like it never left.
To contact Blue Moon catering, call 316-612-4694. To contact Red Beans To Go, call 316-201-3846 or email redbeanstogo@gmail.com.
This story was originally published February 16, 2021 at 2:46 PM.
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