The Sam’s Southern Eatery space in Wichita is about to get a new restaurant tenant
Wichita has had a few restaurants specializing in African cuisine over the years, and now, it’s about to get another.
Beatrice Adem, a native of Cameroon who has lived in the United States for the last 21 years, has taken over the lease on the former Sam’s Southern Eatery space at 6600 W. Central, and she and her husband, Chico, plan to open a restaurant called Bchic Bar & Grill. Its moniker is a combination of their two first names.
The restaurant, which she hopes to have open in late July or early August, will serve cuisine from all regions of Africa, she said. Among her specialties will be grilled chicken, fish and shrimp; rice dishes including coconut rice, Jollof rice and Pilau rice; and bread items like puff-puff, chapati (a flat bread), and mandazi — which are like doughnuts.
The restaurant also will offer African salads, including sweet kale salads, as well as fresh juices like mango and passion fruit. Customers will be able to get food spicy or not, and the menu will be vegan- and vegetarian-friendly, Adem said.
Bchic Bar & Grill, which will offer both lunch and dinner, also will have a full bar that will keep serving until 2 a.m.
Adem said that Wichita is lacking in African fare, and that’s one of the reasons she decided to open a restaurant. Though she’s made her career in health care, her mother once owned a restaurant in Cameroon, and her sister is a chef in Houston.
“For a while, there hasn’t been anything, and that was one of my inspirations behind doing this,” she said.
For now, Adem said, she’s concentrating on sprucing up and painting the interior of the restaurant, which has been vacant since Sam’s Southern Eatery left it in early April. The space is best known as the longtime home of Marco’s Cantina.
Stay tuned for an opening date for Bchic Bar & Grill.
This story was originally published July 6, 2022 at 9:51 AM.
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