Downtown culinary school’s second restaurant — this one called The Bistro — is now open

The second restaurant of several planned for WSU Tech’s new culinary school — called National Institute for Culinary & Hospitality Education (or Niche, for short) — opened Thursday, and this one is staffed by students in the program.

The new restaurant at 124 S. Broadway, whose full name is the Envision Bistro and Innovation Kitchen but whose nickname will be just “The Bistro,” will be open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays.

The Bistro, which has always been a part of the school’s plan to help students get real-world experience while still in school, operates out of the state-of-the-art kitchen (with signature yellow range) that’s visible to passersby at Broadway and William. The kitchen, said the school’s chef de cuisine Bill Crites, is one of the nicest many of the students will ever work in during their professional lives.

Crites, an experienced chef who has worked in Wichita restaurants like Dempsey’s, Odd Fellow Hall and Koch’s 37 West, designed the menu, which he says matches his personal mission to serve elevated, locally sourced food but also is simple enough for the students to execute. Customers will find dishes like summer corn and catfish soup, a beef rib bierock, and a pork patty melt served on house-made rye bread. Dessert options include a sunflower seed creme brulee, a chocolate pot de creme and seasonal sorbets and gelatos.

The Bistro put on a series of “soft openings” late last week that all went well, said John Michael, the director of the culinary school. Now, the kitchen will be staffed daily by eight to 10 students, some a semester into their classwork, some ready to graduate.

Earlier this week, the students were busy in the kitchen preparing for opening day. One portioned and wrapped pork patties while another boiled corn cobs for the corn soup. One kneaded bread while another worked the pasta machine. Crites and sous chef Alex Chlentzos buzzed around the kitchen, helping students operate machinery and figure out measurements.

Crites, who trained at the Texas Culinary Academy/Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, said that working in The Bistro will give the students invaluable experience.

The students will “be able to get a taste of real world volume, real world production, and real world actual pressure but still be in the bubble of safety, still inside the walls of the school kicking out ideally what’s going to be better food than any other thing available,” he said.

The students will be paid to work in the restaurant kitchen, which will follow WSU Tech’s school calendar and will be open about 48 weeks out of the year, Michael said. It will, for example, close over Christmas break.

The Bistro’s front-of-house is set up to be able to almost run itself. Customers will scan QR codes found on their tables to order food and pay their bills. Drinks are self-serve, and when customers’ food is ready, their names will be called so they can pick it up and either take it to go or choose one of the seats in The Bistro area or in the adjoining future food hall area. Michael says the food hall, with room for five or six different food concepts, should be operating by year’s end. Jinya Ramen Bar, a commercial endeavor by Niche developer Sudha Tokala, is not run by students. It opened at Niche in April and was the space’s first restaurant.

Michael said the culinary school should have about 100 students enrolled this year, and they’ll have the opportunity to apply to work at the restaurant as well.

Though the restaurant won’t be the students’ only opportunity to get real-world experience, it will be one of the most intense.

“We have them do a lot of events and things like that, and that definitely has a certain amount of pressure that goes along with it,” Michael said. “But there’s nothing like the live action of actually running a station, trying to execute food well at speed.”

The Bistro menu

This story was originally published July 13, 2023 at 11:01 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.