New downtown Wichita bar features champagne, brunch and an unusual culinary trend
Two things I’ve been a fan of for years: Bubbles and the beautiful but underutilized space on the ground floor of Eaton Place, 517 E. Douglas.
Now, two things I love have magically come together as a fun new bar and brunch spot that recently opened in downtown Wichita.
Janelle King just relocated and reopened her business The Workroom on the ground floor of Eaton Place — which is at the corner of Douglas and St. Francis, just across from Naftzger Park. And now, with the help of her bar manager Paige Jordan, she’s just opened her promised champagne bar — called Bubbles — inside the space as well.
I stopped by on Friday night and had a fabulous time at the bar, which serves much more than champagne. The bar has comfortable seating, brunch and a menu with a sense of humor. Most important, Bubbles returns food and drink to the gorgeous, historic space for the first time since Eaton Steakhouse closed in 2009.
Here are a few fun facts about the new Bubbles bar:
It serves not only champagne but “The Champagne of beers”: The focus of the bar is bubbles — and cocktails made with bubbles — but the menu does include one beer (and one beer only.) Miller High Life, lovingly known by its fans as “the champagne of beers,” is sold at Bubbles, and bottles of it are prominently displayed in a space behind the bar.
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It serves brunch every day: Bubbles also serves food, and the menu has been designed to satisfy brunch fans as well as those wanting a snack with their drinks. Among the items on the menu are shrimp and grits cakes, a waffle plate, a chicken salad sandwich and lobster bites. Customers also can get goat cheese with chili crunch, marinated olives and feta or — most interestingly — a “seacuterie board.”
It serves “seacuterie boards”: Here’s something you won’t find anywhere else in Wichita: King said she decided to bring a trend she’s enjoyed on the East Coast to Wichita. Tinned fish, she said, is often served along with champagne and cocktails in big cities on the East and West coasts. Her boards include a choice of tinned salmon, tinned mackerel or tinned sardines served with various accouterments. It may sound strange, she said, but fish in a tin actually pairs quite well with bubbles.
It serves boozy grapes: Another item on the menu I’m excited to try are the “grapes a la coupe,” which King said are grapes that have been soaked in champagne then coated in sugar and pack quite a boozy punch.
Its cocktails shimmer: In addition to champagne by the bottle and by the glass, customers also can get fun cocktails made with champagne. I ordered the Princess of the Plains, which was a glass of champagne served with a rock candy swizzle stick and edible glitter coating the rim. Among the other choices are the Temperance Fizz, featuring champagne with gin, blackberry syrup, blackberries and rosemary, and Cleopatra’s Bath, featuring sherbet topped with champagne and berries.
It also serves Carry Nation-approved drinks: Carry Nation — who once famously took a hatchet to the Eaton Hotel bar — would be relieved to know that Bubbles also serves non-alcoholic champagne, kombucha and hibiscus iced tea.
It serves coffee and pastries: Though it’s not open early in the morning, coffee lovers also can stop by Bubbles for a later-day pick-me-up. Bubbles has a pastry case full of desserts and serves espresso and affogato, which is espresso poured over ice cream.
You can shop while you sip: Bubbles is on the west side of The Workroom, a shop filled with lots of fun Wichita flag swag, gift items, books and more. It also is attached to a spin-off of Grow Giesen Plant Shop that’s called Planterior.
Happy hour: Bubbles is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays. It also offers happy hour specials from 3 to 6 p.m. daily.
Bubbles menu
This story was originally published June 10, 2024 at 11:15 AM.
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