The Belmont debuts its first major menu overhaul since it opened nearly four years ago
When The Belmont opened during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, it was a hit — even when fewer people were willing to dine out.
Ever since then, dinner at The Belmont, 3555 E. Douglas, has been one of the hottest tickets in Wichita, and many nights, people are waiting for tables at the restaurant, which was finished with a sleek mid-century style and fitted with retractable doors that — during agreeable weather — make the restaurant nearly completely open to the outdoors.
Over the years, though, many of those who love The Belmont have expressed the same wish: that the menu — which until now has been largely focused on sandwiches, appetizers and bruschetta — offered a bigger selection, especially of the kind of high-end entrees that match the restaurant’s stylish atmosphere.
Now, they’re getting it.
On Tuesday, The Belmont introduced its first major menu overhaul since it opened nearly four years ago. It comes courtesy of Jennifer Reifschneider, the restaurant’s experienced new chef, who took over the kitchen in January.
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Her overhaul touched nearly every part of the menu, from brunch to dessert to dinner. Even the alcohol menu is new, courtesy of The Belmont’s general manager and longtime cocktail aficionado Becky Reynolds.
But the most noticeable changes are on the dinner menu, which was previously long on sandwiches but short on entrees, offering only fried chicken, salmon, pork steak and ribeye.
Now, the menu offers nine entrees. The salmon and ribeye are still there but have been re-imagined by Reifschneider. She’s also added things like chicken cordon bleu, chicken carbonara and a “ravioli spiral” — which is stuffed with spinach and ricotta and topped with Parmesan cream sauce, pesto, toasted pine nuts and Parmesan gremolata. There’s also now a filet.
And in a move that I find incredibly exciting, Reifschneider has also added scallops to the entree menu. For years, I’ve been telling anyone who would listen that I imagined myself sitting in The Belmont dining room, doors open on a beautiful spring day, drinking a glass of chilled white wine and enjoying a big plate of scallops. Reifschneider’s sea scallops come with charred bok choy, coconut cream sauce, chili crisp, jalapeno and pickled kumquat.
The entree Reifschneider is most excited about, though, is the short rib lasagna, which The Belmont has been testing recently as a special. It’s a unique take on lasagna and features layers of pasta with red wine-braised short rib, truffle mornay, marinara and Parmesan.
“It’s pretty killer,” Reifschneider said. “It’s not your traditional lasagna by any stretch of the imagination.”
The menu still has its famous bruschetta, which is mostly unchanged, and it still has its sandwiches, though only three made it onto the new dinner menu: the ham n’ cheese, a veggie burger featuring a crunchy falafel patty, and the new Smokestack Burger, which features house-made pickles, pickled onions and buttermilk fried onion straws served on a toasted egg bun. (The lunch menu features more sandwiches, and carbonara is the only entree.)
The list of appetizers still includes fried green tomatoes and warm bread and butter, but it now includes a steak board featuring hanger steak, Maytag blue cheese, caramelized onions and sauces with grilled sourdough. Reifschneider also has added hot honey wings as well as lamb lollipops, served with green harissa, pomegranate molasses, feta, pickled red onions and crispy chickpeas.
The new chef also decided to create her own desserts — something else the previous Belmont menu lacked. Now, the desserts are all made in house. Customers can finish their meals with creme brulee, carrot cake, a warm chocolate chip cookie with vanilla ice cream, or a “Bag’o Donuts,” which is essentially a paper bag full of beignets tossed in orange sugar and served with chocolate, caramel and berry sauce. Reifschneider said she’s especially excited about the new caramelized banana upside down cake, also served with ice cream.
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Being able to exercise her own creativity on a menu is “the fun part of the job,” Reifschneider said, and she was more than happy to get that directive from the restaurant’s owners, brothers Ryan and Anthony Francisco and Tory DeMarce.
“Talking to the owners and the general consensus of people around town was that there was a lack of entree items,” she said of the previous menu. “For people who really want to come for a full meal, the options were limited, so that was kind of the focus — to really add a lot more options for the dinner crowd.”
The new drink menu imagined by Reynolds fills up an entire booklet, which has just been printed and debuted as well. It features a new list of six seasonal cocktails and six “premium pour” cocktails, including the “Negreeni,” made with green tea, genepi, aperitivo and Citadelle gin. It also features a new list of dessert cocktails (including a red wine float, which is exactly what it sounds like it is) as well as a cocktail list designed for the brunch crowd.
The drink list also includes craft beer, wine by the glass or bottle, and lots of premium spirits.
A few other minor changes are coming at The Belmont. Besides the addition of its soon-to-launch sister restaurant next door — Larcher’s — the restaurant also has a slick new website, and the owners have ordered new glowing signs for the outside of the building, which it’s never had before.
They likely won’t be up for a few months, the owners said, but once they are, they’ll feature The Belmont’s name in its signature script and will hang on the east- and west-facing sides of the building.
The Belmont’s hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays; 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays.
Stay tuned for news about Larcher’s opening and menu in the coming days.
The Belmont’s new menu
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