St. George Lebanese dinner returns to full service this weekend
One of Wichita’s biggest and most anticipated church dinners will return this weekend, and for the first time in four years, it’ll be fully operating with both in-person and drive-through service.
The St. George Lebanese Dinner & Food Sale, now in its 87th year at the St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral at 13th and Rock, will be open from 4 to 8 p.m. on Saturday and from noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday. As usual, it will offer meals of salad, pita bread, cabbage rolls, kibba, ruz and yuknee — which is a Lebanese green bean, rice and tomato stew — and baklawa.
Though the dinner returned last year after a two-year hiatus — the church took 2019 off to recover from a big remodel project and skipped 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic — in 2021 it was a drive-through only event. That set up worked, said publicity chair Ginger Ellis, and the church was able to sell as many meals as during a normal year.
But when planning this year’s event, church members agreed that something was missing.
“We probably could have kept it drive through, and it would have required a lot less people to work it,” she said. “But we just missed the hospitality side of it and welcoming people in and being able to serve our community.”
In addition to the drive-through this year, people also can dine inside the church hall and get a cathedral tour. While there, they can also visit the dinner’s popular Country Kitchen, which offers extra portions of things like kibba, grape leaves and baklawa as well as salad dressing and pita bread.
Despite rising food costs, the church has been able to keep ticket prices the same as last year, Ellis said. They’re $20 for adults, $15 for children 10 and under and are available in advance at stgeorgedinner.com. They also can be purchased at the event.
This story was originally published October 4, 2022 at 6:30 PM.
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