A new upscale Wichita restaurant has started its reservation-only ‘soft opening’ period
For nearly two years, the luxurious restaurant space at 2146 N. Collective Lane has sat empty and dark.
But that’s changed now.
The new tenant for the Lola’s Bistro space in Soho Plaza near 21st and Greenwich — a Peruvian restaurant called Lima Nation Peruvian Kitchen — started its “soft opening” on Wednesday, Jan. 3. The restaurant’s co-owner, Karo Barreda, said that Lima Nation will now accept customers via reservation only from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 9 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays.
Those who want to make reservations can do so at limanation.com or via the restaurant’s Google Business profile, found by searching “Lima Nation Peruvian Kitchen” on Google.
Barreda’s chef husband, Carlos, will lead the kitchen and will be serving his take on Peruvian cuisine: He trained at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Lima, Peru, and has been cooking and managing restaurants for more than 25 years.
The couple own other restaurants in Nicaragua and Honduras, but Lima Nation will be their first business in the United States.
Over the last several weeks, the owners have been sharing photos of the kitchen’s creations on social media and have shown things like fresh ceviche, short ribs over fettuccine, and a beef, pork and shrimp dish called Tallarín Taypa.
Their menu also has dishes like lomo saltado, which features stir-fried beef tenderloin stir fried with red onions and tomatoes and topped with garlic and cilantro, and several rice dishes topped with things like pork belly and seafood.
For five years, the space that Lima Nation is taking over was home to Lola’s Bistro. Owner Michael Abay closed it in February 2022 saying that he hoped to reopen. But that didn’t happen.
Lima Nation will operate on a reservation-only system for a couple of weeks, Karo Barreda said.
This story was originally published January 3, 2024 at 5:01 AM.
.jpg)