A Wichita restaurant that left the west side in 2020 is about to return — with some tweaks
Four years after a Wichita restaurant left the west side, it’s about to return.
And in a strange twist, it will open in a space directly next door to the one it vacated in 2020.
Crafted owner Mike Brotemarkle, who in August 2019 opened his coffee and poke restaurant at 9730 E. 21st St., says that he and his wife, Vicky Dao, have taken over the former Baskin-Robbins space at 8918 W. 21st St. It’s on the far west end of the strip center just in front of the Regal Warren West movie theatre.
That’s where they plan to open a second restaurant that will be similar to Crafted but will have a different name — and a slightly different approach. The new restaurant will be called Sharky’s Island Bites, Brotemarkle said, and it will specialize in poke and hot Hawaiian plate lunches. It will also carry a limited coffee menu and serve Dole Whip, something Crafted is known for, as well as specialty boba drinks.
It’s just an odd coincidence, Brotemarkle said, that the space is right next door to where his previous west-side restaurant, Poke Mix, once operated. That restaurant, which was focused solely on build-your-own poke dishes, opened in 2017, but Brotemarkle and his then partners decided to close it just as the pandemic was starting in 2020. They’d just opened Crafted seven months earlier.
“It had been posted for lease for a while, and we just kind of inquired about it,” Brotemarkle said of the west-side space. “We didn’t really think anything of it. It was just a good deal, and we couldn’t pass it up.”
Though it’s in the same strip center, the space for Sharky’s is better than the Pokemix spot next door because it has a drive-through, Brotemarkle said. Crafted has one, too, and it’s become an important piece of the concept.
Why are Crafted’s owners giving their west-side restaurant a different name?
Brotemarkle said that they have plans to franchise their poke concept, and they want potential franchisees to have two options: a smaller restaurant (Sharky’s) focused on poke and plate lunches, and a larger version (Crafted) that also has a full coffee menu.
“It allows us to give the ability to choose what kind of setting or poke restaurant they would like,” he said.
Sharky’s should open by mid- to late May, Brotemarkle said. It will have seating inside for 36 and will offer fun merchandise targeted at both adults and kids.
“It will be pretty kid friendly, and the menu will be really open for the entire family,” he said.
Brotemarkle also has a food truck that it has been using for catering and special events since last year. It will soon be branded as Sharky’s Island Bites, and he plans to start taking it out more often. Its focus is Hawaiian plate lunches.
Stay tuned for more information as Sharky’s Island Bites gets closer to opening.
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