Rail Hoppers restaurant space in northeast Wichita is about to get a new tenant
.jpg "The brand new restaurant space where Rail Hoppers operates in northeast Wichita will soon have a new tenant: Natasha Gandhi-Rue’s The Kitchen.")
Wichita now has one pretty small Kitchen.
Soon, it will have two Kitchens — and the second one will be much bigger.
Natasha Gandhi-Rue, who along with her husband, Scott Rue, opened The Kitchen in 2016 in the former train depot building at Union Station, is about to add a second Wichita location.
She’s taking over the space at 3622 N. Oliver where Schane Gross’ Rail Hoppers has been operating since last March and will turn it into a second location of The Kitchen. Gandhi-Rue says she hopes to have the new restaurant open by April.
Gross, who recently remodeled and reopened her flagship restaurant The Anchor at 1109 E. Douglas, said she’s decided to concentrate on that business and will likely close Rail Hoppers in early April.
“I’m thrilled to see that location go to another independent small business owner,” Gross said.
Gandhi-Rue said that she wasn’t looking to open another restaurant when she was approached by Great Plains Ventures — the owner of District 96. The growing development at K-96 and Oliver where Rail Hoppers operates in a brand new building is also home to Aloft Hotel and a new Scooter’s and is also about to get a big pickleball complex called Taps N Paddles.
She had, however, been putting out feelers about catering kitchens she might utilize, she said. Her catering business just keeps growing, and the kitchen at her downtown restaurant is so small she can’t serve the dining room and work on catering jobs at the same time.
The idea of working out of a massive restaurant building intrigued her.
“Since COVID, we’ve been doing a lot more catering, and it’s going to make catering so much easier,” she said. “We’ll be able to actually accept more catering orders, where right now, we can’t, unfortunately. I have to turn down a lot of caterings because I just don’t have the room to do them in my tiny little kitchen. “
The much larger space also will afford Gandhi-Rue the flexibility to do other things she hasn’t been able to do downtown because of space limitations: offer dinner specials, put on hands-on cooking classes, and book private events. The new space has a private dining room that can be used for meetings, bridal showers and more, she said.
The core menu will be the same as what Gandhi-Rue offers at the Union Station restaurant, whose menu features salads, soups, flatbreads, burgers and entrees like Steak Diane, Cajun pasta, and chicken and waffles. She imagines being able to offer steak dinner specials and fresh pasta dishes at the new restaurant.
She also wants to start offering brunch but likely won’t do so until summer.
Gandhi-Rue said she wants to make it clear, though, that the original location of The Kitchen will not close.
“I’m certainly not giving up on my downtown location,” she said. “That’s my first-born baby. I love that location and I love being downtown. This is going to allow us to grow our business.”
Gandhi-Rue, a graduate of New York City’s French Culinary Institute (now called the International Culinary Center) and a former culinary manager for Williams-Sonoma, has seen her profile in Wichita rise over the last few years. She’s appeared on the Food Network show “Guy’s Grocery Games” three different times since 2020, and she actively advocates for other locally owned small businesses.
I’ll let you know when Gandhi-Rue has a firm opening date for her second restaurant.
This story was originally published February 22, 2024 at 5:08 PM.
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