Plans for this lakeside restaurant were announced six months ago. Now, there’s movement.
_(2).jpg "John Arnold, left, and his business partner Lauren Irwin are pictured at Friday’s groundbreaking for the new Deano’s in northwest Wichita. They hope to have it open by April 2024.")
More than six months ago, John Arnold announced plans to build a second Deano’s Grill & Tapworks restaurant, this one overlooking a lake near 37th and Ridge in northwest Wichita.
Recently, Wichita diners have been asking for updates about when the restaurant will open — or even break ground.
The answer to the latter question: now. On Friday, Arnold, his business partner Lauren Irwin, and several employees gathered on the site for an official groundbreaking, wearing ceremonial hard hats and clutching ceremonial gold shovels.
Arnold, who in January said he hoped to have the new restaurant open in eight months, said it will take a bit longer than that. He plans to start moving dirt on the site in the next 10 days and hopes the restaurant will be ready to open by the end of April 2024.
“We’re as excited as anyone else,” he said.
Arnold said when he announced the project that the west-side restaurant would be a larger version of the original Deano’s, an upscale sports bar he opened in 2013 at 9747 E. 21st St. The restaurant, which will be next to the Legacy Bank at 37th North and Ridge Road, will have two stories and will overlook a little lake called Pier 37. Its official name will be Deano’s Grill & Tapworks at Pier 37.
The upstairs of the restaurant will include a room that can hold about 75 people. Both levels will have patios that overlook the water. Like the original, the new Deanos will have 23 TVs, 23 beers on tap and a menu featuring burgers, wings, sandwiches, salads and entrees of sirloin steak, fried cod, salmon, and more.
Arnold also owns Oak & Pie and Stearman Airfield Bar & Grill. He closed his Jax Restaurant and Bar, which operated just across the parking lot from the east Deano’s, in early January, just before he shared his plans for a Deano’s west.
This story was originally published July 3, 2023 at 12:12 PM.
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