Wichita weekend stuffed with 3 big food events
Wichita food fans will need to pace themselves to get through this weekend, which is stuffed with three big food events.
Not only does the second annual Wichita Restaurant Week start on Friday, but the 81st annual Lebanese Dinner will attract crowds to St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral on Saturday and Sunday, and the Battle of the Burger also is back for its second go-round on Saturday at Old Cowtown Museum.
The following is a guide to planning your weekend of dining.
Wichita Restaurant Week, Friday-Oct. 19
Restaurant Weeks are big deals in big cities because they offer diners a chance to taste a sampling of a restaurant’s food for a set price.
Last summer, Go Wichita, the Kansas Restaurant & Hospitality Association and the Boys & Girls Club of South Central Kansas teamed up to try to establish a Wichita Restaurant Week, and the experiment was a success, organizers said. The participating restaurants served around 2,200 Restaurant Week meals and collected $7,000 for the Boys & Girls Club.
“We got a lot of great feedback last year, and now it’s about getting the word out,” said Susie Santo, president and CEO of Go Wichita.
Organizers have signed 24 restaurants up again this year, and the list includes upscale eateries, coffee shops, diners and bar and grills. Among the restaurants participating are Chester’s Chophouse, Newport Grill, Public at the Brickyard, Doo-Dah Diner, Reverie Coffee Roasters, Taste and See and Piccadilly.
Each restaurant has been asked to come up with $10, $20 or $40 set meals or dishes that diners can choose from. Restaurants can offer meals at as many of those three price points as they want. As an example, Public at the Brickyard will offer a $10 lunch made up of a Yoder roast beef sandwich with caramelized onions, roasted red peppers and fontina cheese served with a choice of side. They also are offering a $40 dinner for two that includes salad, choice of burger or soy-glazed salmon and creme brulee for dessert.
Diners who visit between Friday and Oct. 19 will have the option of ordering from the Restaurant Week menus or from the regular menu. If they choose the former, 10 percent of their bill will go to the Boys & Girls Club.
Organizers say they will have the complete menus available to view by Friday at the Wichita Restaurant Week website, wichitarestaurantweek.com.
81st annual Lebanese Dinner at St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral, Saturday and Sunday
One of Wichita’s most popular annual public church dinners – and the city has many – is this one, now in its 81st year at the St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedra, 7515 E. 13th St.
It always attracts around 5,500 people, who pay $16 for a meal of cabbage rolls, rice and green beans, kibbe, salad, pita bread and baklava.
A team of about 50 church members starts working on the dinner during the summer, cooking kibbe, assembling cabbage rolls and carefully turning 525 pounds of filo dough and 600 pounds of nuts into tray after tray of the sweet and sticky Lebanese dessert baklava.
The dinner, which raises money for the churches’ outreach programs, always packs the dining room, where church members serve as waiters. It also jams 13th Street with cars trying to get into the church parking lot to take advantage of the dinner’s drive-though service, famous for its efficiency and fast-moving volunteers.
Those who attend also can shop in the Country Kitchen, a market that offers Lebanese baked goods and other foods to go. This year, the market also will include food native to other countries as well, such as kourourakia (butter cookies) and tsourekia (bread) from Greece.
“The goal for the Country Kitchen this year is for them to really diversify,” said Misha Warren, one of the dinner’s organizers. “We call it the Lebanese Dinner, but our parish is so ethnically diverse.”
Attendees also can take tours of the cathedral.
The dinner lasts from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $16, or $8 for ages 10 and under. They’re available at the door or by calling 316-636-4676. For more information, visit www.stgeorgedinner.com.
Battle of the Burgers, Saturday
If you want to raise money for your organization, Ashley Ruckman has learned, you have to do something different from the norm.
So last year, she and her colleagues at KETCH, an organization that helps adults with developmental disabilities, developed Battle of the Burgers, an event that attempts to raise money and identify Wichita’s best hamburger.
The battle drew about 250 spectators to Old Cowtown Museum, where they sampled burgers from six local restaurants and chose which one they liked best.
Organizers were happy with the results, and so were the owners of Fizz Burgers & Bottles, 7718 E. 37th St. North, whose burger won both the judges’ choice for best traditional burger as well as the People’s Choice trophy. (The Anchor and Mooyah also placed in the competition.)
Now, the restaurants are ready for a rematch, which will happen on Saturday afternoon.
The battle will recommence at noon at Old Cowtown, and this year, Ruckman has signed up Fizz Burgers & Bottles, Mooyah, the Anchor, Siena Tuscan Steakhouse, Harvest Kitchen/Bar, Five Guys, Emerson Biggins and Heroes. Each will cook their burgers on-site on a portable grill.
Participants will be able to sample a quarter of a burger from each booth, which translates to two full burgers. They’ll also get chips and soft drinks for free, and the first 300 people through the doors will get one beer. The event will also have a cash bar.
KETCH wants this year’s event to draw more families, so they’ve added a ticket for children. Adults get in for $30, and children 12 and under get in for $12. They’ve also set up a kid activity center, which will include a Home Depot workshop, potato sack races, a ring toss and a dunk tank. The event also will have a Country Market set up with local vendors, and a car show, too. All the buildings in Old Cowtown will be open as well.
Attendees are asked to park at the Old Cowtown Visitor’s Center and check in there.
“We’ve had tickets flying out the door,” said Ruckman, who said that KETCH hopes to double its attendance this year. “It’s been something people are really hyped up about.”
For more information, call call 316-383-8889 or visit http://ictburgerbattle.com.
This story was originally published October 8, 2014 at 10:51 AM with the headline "Wichita weekend stuffed with 3 big food events."