One of the year’s most talked-about new Wichita restaurants is adding brunch this weekend

One of the most talked-about restaurants that has opened in Wichita this year is Doma, which opened in the former Carlos O’ Kelly’s spot on the perimeter of Towne East Square in January.

Until recently, though, the restaurant was operating at half speed. Owners decided to start slow with the massive restaurant and focus on establishing the evening dinner service before moving ahead with plans to add weekend brunch and to open its massive indoor/outdoor “lounge” area.

Now, both of those things are happening.

This weekend, Doma will introduce its Sunday brunch service, which will feature a separate menu filled with gourmet breakfast and lunch dishes. Brunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

Doma, as Wichitans have learned, is a “small plates” restaurant where customers are expected to order several smaller dishes and share them. Although the new brunch menu has some small plate dishes on it, said executive chef Joseph Castillo, breakfast isn’t as “shareable” as other meals so the brunch menu has some dishes intended for individuals as well.

Customers will be able to get things like brown butter grilled lobster Benedict, huevos rancheros, and house-made corned beef hash, and there will be some sweet pancake- and waffle-type dishes as well, Castillo said.

Shareable items on the new menu include things like smoked salmon flatbread, truffled crab avocado toast, and oyster mushroom egg rolls. Sunday brunch also will feature a “raw bar,” from which customers can get ceviche, tuna crudo, prawn cocktail and more.

The menu also has a “liquid diet” section offering adult beverages like mimosas, micheladas and a cold brew coffee martini.

Brunch will be served just on Sundays for now, Castillo said, but it’s possible the restaurant will expand it to Saturdays later in the summer.

Double the seating

The addition of brunch isn’t all that’s new at Doma.

The restaurant, which previously was open Tuesdays through Saturdays, has just added Monday hours in addition to its Sunday brunch hours.

“Demand has been so overwhelming that we were lucky to be able to add a sixth and seventh day,” Castillo said.

The owners also decided they were ready to open their lounge area, which is a giant space just to the east of the main dining room and is furnished with more casual couches, chairs and coffee tables and decorated with glowing overhead string lights. The lounge also has retractable garage doors that turn it into an open-air hangout when the weather is nice.

The lounge doubles Doma’s seating capacity, Castillo said, and people can request to be seated there rather than in the dining room if they want.

Meanwhile, owner Max Cole has reconsidered what he wants to do with the outdoor space that is on the far east side of the building. It’s not open just yet, and though Cole initially planned for it to be a casual space with communal tables, fire pits and yard games, he’s since decided to pave that area and turn it into a more upscale outdoor dining space with individual tables and live jazz music.

That area probably won’t be ready to go until the middle or end of summer, Castillo said.

Cole also is still planning to create some sort of food business in the former Asian buffet restaurant to Doma’s west, which he also owns. Demolition has started inside the building, Castillo said, and architects are working on plans. He said he’d share more specific details later.

Shareable plates catching on

Castillo said that he and his partners have been pleasantly surprised by the response to Doma over its first few months in business.

In the early evenings, it’s generally filled with diners in their late 40s to early 70s. As it gets later, he said, the restaurant fills with people in their mid-20s to mid-40s.

“I haven’t found a restaurant that has the clientele we have,” he said. “It’s been really nice to see diners come out and enjoy themselves.”

Customers also have been mostly positive about the shared plates approach, which isn’t as common in Wichita as it is in larger cities. About 70% of customers have been open minded about it, Castillo said. Of the remaining 30%, only a small fraction have said they’ll never be back.

As more Wichita restaurants try the concept, more people seem to embrace it, he said.

“It’s kind of nice, and what’s helped us along is all these other restaurants have had a better focus on small plates,” he said. “Now that there’s more than one small-plate option, they’re starting to get it and starting to understand.”

Doma brunch menu

This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 12:12 PM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.