Third generation of Connie’s owners putting stamp on restaurant with changes, upgrades
Connie’s Mexico Cafe — Wichita’s oldest family-owned Mexican restaurant — is closing in on 60. The restaurant at 2227 N. Broadway turned 58 this year.
But instead of continuing to age into oblivion, the restaurant has recently been getting a new, more modern look as well as a few modern upgrades.
It’s the work of the next generation of the Connie’s family — sisters Adele Garcia and CiCi Garcia — whose grandparents Ralph and Connie Lopez first opened the restaurant in 1963. Though the sisters’ mother, Carmen Rosales, is still the owner, she’s mostly turned the day-to-day operation of her parents’ restaurant over to her daughters, and they have their own ideas about the direction they want to take Connie’s.
They’ve made a couple of big changes over the past year, including adding a big new parking lot, having the restaurant painted a more modern shade of dark gray, putting in new booths, and commissioning the painting of an almost-completed mural on the building’s north-facing side that will pay tribute to the restaurant’s namesake, Connie, who died in 2006.
And as early as next week, the sisters expect to open their new patio dining space, which is also on the building’s north side. Covered in a cedar pergola, the patio will have heaters, glowing lights, a chiminea and seating for between 24 and 30.
Take it outside
The sisters got the idea for the patio in August 2020, when Wichita introduced a program called Open Air ICT. Designed to help restaurants struggling during the pandemic, the program allowed owners to get free permits to expand their outdoor dining areas into streets, grassy areas, sidewalks and parking lots adjacent to their businesses.
Connie’s took advantage of the program, adding a couple of tables on the north side of the building. But it got the Garcia sisters thinking about a more permanent addition.
About a year ago, CiCi said, she started investigating what it would take to add a real patio, and it sent the family down a yearlong maze that included rezoning hearings, architects and a whole lot of concrete.
Since their patio plan would eat up a big chunk of the restaurant’s parking lot — which was already frequently packed during busy lunch and dinner hours — the family decided to finally pave the vacant lot that Rosales also owned to the west of the existing parking lot.
Though customers had long used it for overflow parking, it was full of grass and potholes and not that hospitable to traffic. Over the summer, the owners had the field paved and the perimeter landscaped, and the new lot added 22 parking spaces.
The family also decided to paint the building to give it a more modern look, and after several “tense” discussions, the sisters say with a laugh, they settled on the dark gray color. (Adele really wanted bright turquoise but lost that battle.)
“We all have different ideas,” Adele said. “I’m surprised we haven’t killed each other, but I think we’ve gotten close.”
An ode to Grandma Connie
With the restaurant painted and looking new, CiCi said, she promoted the idea of adding a bright new mural to the side of the building. She’s become a fan of the many murals going up on the north side and wanted a new one for Connie’s.
The family hired artist Heather Byers and asked her to replace the Virgin Mary mural that had long decorated the side of Connie’s with a bigger, brighter version.
The bright new mural is almost complete, and not only does it feature a two-story Virgin Mary as well as the restaurant’s logo but it soon will include an image of founder Connie Lopez, who her granddaughters remembers as a strict but glamorous woman who would carefully watch over the business and taste the food before the kitchen started serving each day. Grandma Connie was always “dolled up,” they remember, and she loved to wear perfume, diamond earrings and fur coats. She also loved sipping on a Miller Light while supervising her business.
They chose an old photo of Connie as a young woman wearing a wide-brimmed hat and asked Byers to recreate it. As of early this week, she was making fast progress adding Connie to the mural.
The patio is also poured and the pergola is up. The sisters have the furniture and heaters purchased, and they hope they can start seating people outside on Monday. They plan to use the patio as long as they can this fall while the weather holds up.
The changes have been earning local notice, they said, and many people have begun stopping to take selfies with the new mural. They tell the sisters that they are happy to see the next generation of the Connie’s family adding its touch.
“We’re growing,” CiCi Garcia said. “We’ve modernized the vibes and the energy.”
Rosales still comes by the restaurant to check in and get the day started, and she signs off on big changes her daughters want to make. But she’s also taken a step back from the restaurant.
Her daughters have long wanted Carmen to slow down, they said, and when she contracted COVID-19 in June 2020, she was forced to.
“With the pandemic, she unfortunately had to stay home, and she ended up liking it,” Cici said.
Carmen is now taking piano and guitar lessons and enjoying a slower pace, her daughters said.
“She’s still the boss, though,” CiCi said. “She’ll still make sure everything’s right.”
The Garcia sisters say they’re excited about the growth of the North side of Wichita and are happy to be a part of its renaissance.
They’re also excited about their new outdoor space, and so is their mother. When crews poured the cement for the patio, her daughters asked her to leave palm imprints on the edge. They etched the date beside her palm prints and added a jeweled cross.
Though they had no idea that the process of adding the patio would take so long and involve so much change, the finished product makes them feel like it was all worth it.
“For as much work and headache this has caused, I want to be out there when it’s negative 10,” Adele said with a laugh. “How many earmuffs do I need?”
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 10:09 AM.
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