First Mile Kitchen’s bright, modern sister restaurant ready to open in downtown Wichita

Just five month after opening their Bradley Fair restaurant — First Mile Kitchen at 2141 N. Bradley Fair Parkway — Nick Korbee and wife Amanda Luginbill are ready to open their second restaurant.

First Mile Cantine, which the couple just finished on the ground floor of Fidelity Bank’s new RISE Car Park on Market between Waterman and English, has been on “soft opening” mode since Wednesday, meaning it’s been quietly operating so that its staff can get some practice.

Though the restaurant officially opens to the public on Tuesday, Korbee said people are also welcome to stop for the remainder of the soft opening, which continues Friday, Saturday and Monday.

First Mile Cantine is similar to its sister restaurant in Bradley Fair in that it’s focused on serving locally sourced “food from here,” as Korbee and Luginbill like to say. Many of the dishes served at First Mile Cantine are also on the menu at First Mile Kitchen.

But First Mile Cantine has its own identity, too. It’s a more casual spot, where customers order at the counter rather than from a waiter or waitress, and it’s designed to serve breakfast and lunch to downtown workers at places like Fidelity Bank as well as students and faculty at the nearby Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine and WSU Tech culinary school.

It’s also intended not only to be a draw for downtown dwellers looking for a fun place to hang out after hours but also as a place where they can stock up on items they need to prepare meals at home. On the west side of the dining room is a retail area with a cold case filled with sandwiches and salads to go plus fresh produce grown at the Rise Farms rooftop garden on the top of the car park.

The retail area also includes things like chicken stock, herbed butter, pickles and sprouts from Kan-Grow Hydro Farm, cheese from Elderslie Farm, plus fresh meat and milk. It also offers retail beer and wine.

First Mile Cantine will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays. Its menu, which you can peruse below, includes breakfast items like an egg sandwich, a breakfast burrito and biscuits and gravy made with smoked pork shoulder. Lunch and dinner customers can choose from salads, sandwiches, a burger and steak frites.

The new restaurant also has a full bar stocked with beer, wine and craft cocktails, and it’ll offer daily happy hour specials from 3 to 6 p.m. On Tuesdays, the bar will offer $2 martinis.

The east end of the restaurant has two large garage doors that open onto an alleyway, and soon, the owners will set up a large patio with seating for around 75 people. The patio area is sandwiched between the restaurant and the eye-catching curved backside of the Broadway Autopark apartments, and eventually, it will be home to live music.

The dining room is bright and airy with tall ceilings and a modern aesthetic. It features several community tables as well as a few smaller tables and chairs, and when customers walk in, they’re greeted by a giant pastry case filled with fresh-baked sweet and savory pastries. First Mile Cantine also has an espresso bar with a full line of coffee drinks.

Korbee and Luginbill, who live downtown, said that First Mile Cantine is the type of place they want to have near their home: a place where they can hang out any time of the day, grab a bite to eat, pick up coffee or enjoy a cocktail and stock up on things they need to prepare a meal at home.

The business will continue to evolve, they said, and they especially hope to expand the retail offerings over time. They first want to learn from their customers what they want.

“Part of that is listening to what they want and what they need and to support the lifestyle of living downtown,” Korbee said.

First Mile Cantine will celebrate its opening with a special party from 5 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, June 28, that will include tastings of its bar offerings. It’s open to anyone.

The restaurant is on the English-facing side of the Rise Car Park.

First Mile Cantine Menu

This story was originally published June 17, 2022 at 5:03 AM.

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.