Wichita brothers, both chefs, are planning a contemporary Italian restaurant
They both grew up in Wichita, graduating from East High School’s International Baccalaureate program.
They both then left home and launched culinary careers in big-city restaurants.
Then, they both returned home to cook, and now brothers Jason Rickard and Jordan Rickard have big plans for their hometown.
The two chefs are planning a new contemporary Italian restaurant that they’ll call FioRito Ristorante. They have the concept ironed out. They even have a couple of menus prepared. All they need now is a restaurant space.
And they’re not wedded to either the east or west side of town.
“We’re just looking for a good location,” said Jason, the elder of the Rickard brothers. (But only by a year.)
Wichita diners likely already recognize the Rickard name. Not only is the brothers’ cousin Chris Rickard, the longtime owner of Bomber Burger at 4860 S. Clifton, but the younger Rickards have both established themselves as local chefs in demand.
Jordan helped Jeremy Wade open his Napoli Italian Eatery last year and just left a job there as executive chef to focus on FioRito. He also worked at Greystone Restaurant in Wichita and before that cooked his way across Denver at restaurants like Beat & Bottle, Frasca Food and Wine, and Linger. He’s also a culinary arts graduate of Johnson and Wales University in Denver.
Jason attended Northwestern University and earned a degree in political science. He was considering a career in law before he fell into cooking, too. The brothers worked together in Denver at Frasca, and Jason also had jobs at Denver restaurants like Beckon and Safta.
Both brothers found their way back to Wichita over the past several years. Jason returned first, helping Carlos Vera get Taco Locale off the ground. Last year, he also had a stint working as executive chef at YaYa’s Eurobistro.
Jordan returned next, taking a job as executive chef at Greystone then moving on to Napoli.
The brothers, who are “as tight as brothers can be,” Jason said, have long been dreaming about opening a restaurant together, and they feel like the time is right.
“We’ve worked together before, and ever since we moved back, we’ve been looking for the right opportunity and the right space,” Jordan said. “It feels like great times of change are great times of opportunity, and with lots of restaurants closing, a lot of the market is opening up and lots of spaces are opening up.”
The brothers have several spaces under consideration, and they also have several approaches in mind. They’ll decide how to structure the menu once they settle on a space, they said.
But their focus will be upscale Italian fare.
“We want to make an experience out of it and we want to put the hospitality forward,” Jason Rickard said. “We want it to be from beginning to end the best experience you can have in Wichita.”
The duo will be showing off their cooking skills on a live 8:45 a.m. segment Saturday on KAKE, Channel 10.
You can also follow along with the brothers’ journey to start their restaurant on social media — both on Facebook and Instagram.
This story was originally published November 12, 2021 at 2:28 PM.
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