West Wichita pizzeria closes after three months, but a new Cajun place will replace it
.jpg "The Electric Pizzeria near Central and Tyler has closed after three months, and a new Cajun restaurant will soon take its place.")
It’s been just three months since the former Pizza Hut building at 8977 W. Central got a new tenant.
But those three months have been difficult, said the owner of Electric Pizzeria West, and now, he’s changing direction. In the next several weeks, he’ll replace the pizzeria with a Cajun restaurant, he said.
Joseph Fowler, who along with his wife, Jacqueline, opened a second location of their Electric Pizza business in the building near Central and Tyler back in July, quietly closed it on Monday.
The prices of his supplies were rising too rapidly, he said: Canadian bacon has jumped from $4 a pound to $17 a pound, and he couldn’t get medium pizza boxes in at all.
“I don’t think there’s enough room in the pizza market for us to have two pizza places on the same side of town,” said Fowler, who opened his first Wichita Electric Pizza at 240 S. West St. in February 2019.
Instead, he said, he’ll soon open in the West Central space a Cajun restaurant that he’ll call T’geaux Cajun. It’ll have a Panda Express-type setup, which Fowler calls an “old style buffeteria, where everything is hot and ready to go.”
Customers will be able to get their choice of plain white rice, red beans and rice, or dirty rice and also choose an entree. He’ll have 10 entrees at a time, he said, including things like hot Cajun shrimp, crawfish etouffee, chicken fricassee and buttered beef.
The restaurant, which also has a drive through, will offer three appetizers: catfish tenders, shrimp croquettes and corn muffins. It’ll also serve king cake, and whoever finds the traditional baby hidden in their cake will get a free entree, Fowler said.
Meals will cost $12 or less, and at lunchtime, diners will be able to get $7 meals that include rice and an entree, he said.
Fowler, who once worked at Brews Brothers in Wichita and developed a love of Cajun cooking there, was quick to point out that his Cajun restaurant is not a “boil” restaurant. Several restaurants have opened in Wichita over the past year — including Blue Hook and Headz & Tailz — and several more are planned that feature seafood boils with Cajun spices.
But his won’t be one of them.
When he opened the West Central pizza restaurant over the summer, Fowler turned his West Street restaurant (whose entrance faces Maple) into a carryout-only operation. But on Monday, he reopened it for dine-in.
Diners on West Street will be able to get pizza by the slice or whole pizzas, and the restaurant is adding scoops of ice cream to the menu. Its hours are now 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
I’ll let you know when the Fowlers have an opening date for T’geaux Cajun.
This story was originally published October 15, 2021 at 11:49 AM.
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