Chef/owner of popular Wichita restaurant celebrates one year of doing things his way
One year ago, Wichita chef Josh Rathbun— after years spent working for others at places like Siena Tuscan Steakhouse — finally opened a restaurant where he called the shots.
Twelve months later, the fine-dining restaurant — which Rathbun, 38, named Lotte after his young daughter, Charlotte — is hardly the city’s most visible eatery. In fact, it operates on the ground floor of a bank parking garage, facing a street that most Wichitans rarely have occasion to travel.
And yet, as it celebrates its first birthday, Lotte is thriving, and Rathbun has managed to stay true to his day-one approach: Preparing seasonal food using as many locally sourced ingredients as possible and changing the menu about every six weeks.
Fans of Lotte report that the food is consistently good, and local foodies love that they can sit at bar stools facing the prep line and closely watch as a disciplined group of chefs plates and garnishes each dish before it goes out.
Reflecting on his first year at the helm of Lotte, Rathbun said that exceeded all the expectations he had on Oct. 24, 2023.
“It’s been really pleasant surprise after pleasant surprise,” he said. “I’m really encouraged by the ability and dedication of my staff, and I’m really excited by our customer base and kind of humbled by the kind words people have said to us while they’ve been here. It’s been a really awesome experience.”
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Rathbun, who grew up in Wichita, got his first restaurant job washing dishes at Watermark Cafe at age 15, and honed his kitchen skills working in restaurants all over Wichita, including Cibola and Lakeside Club. He continued his education in the kitchens of restaurants in Australia, then worked under James Beard-nominated Alex Seidel at his Denver restaurant, Mercantile.
During that time, Rathbun developed a passion for seasonal cooking that utilizes locally grown and produced ingredients. Over the last decade, including from 2016 to 2021 when he worked as executive chef at Siena Tuscan Steakhouse, he’s been one of the most vocal Wichita advocates of the “eat local” movement, even organizing a farm-to-table summit in 2019.
And Rathbun has always had definite ideas about how kitchens should be run, how food should be prepared and how plates should be composed. Being able to make those decisions for himself has been creatively freeing, he said. He now can cook what he wants, when he wants, how he wants.
“We’re not trying to do anything expected or do anything boring,” he said of his partnership with his chef de cuisine since opening day, Zakk Thomas, who worked as his sous chef at Siena Tuscan Steakhouse. “We want to do food that excites us. Zakk and I don’t have anyone telling us what that is now. We have free reign to do what we please.”
That includes frequently overhauling the menu, and though Lotte has had a few dishes that have remained consistent since opening day — like its lamb orecchiette pasta, tuna crudo appetizer, and brioche bread — diners otherwise are never sure what to expect. Over the past year, the kitchen has put out seven different menus featuring dishes like suckling pig with mole verde, Berkshire pork cheeks, grilled octopus, winter squash risotto and more.
Lotte also has a robust bar menu full of craft cocktails, and Rathbun employs well-known local baker Heidi Cruz as his pastry chef.
The crowd Lotte has attracted, Rathbun said, has been made up of young professionals getting together for a night out, theater goers grabbing dinner before a downtown show, and customers who have followed him throughout his kitchen career.
But mostly, he said, the crowd is made up of “foodies, a whole lot of foodies.”
Rathbun said he’s proud that he’s been able to offer his big-city dishes at Wichita-friendly prices. The most expensive dish on his current menu, the pan-seared scallops, is $38. The appetizers range from $12 to $24, and diners can get pasta dishes for around $24.
“We’ve kind of really hit the mark when it comes to what we’re offering for the price we’re offering it,” Rathbun said.
He doesn’t plan on changing much of anything during year two, he said, except that he hopes to offer more special dinners that feature guest chefs, including some from Denver.
Otherwise, he plans to keep Lotte a dinner-only restaurant, and he plans to keep putting out the same style of unexpected, seasonally appropriate dishes he’s been cooking since last October.
“We’ve had one vision that we’ve kind of followed this whole time,” he said. “And it’s really worked out for us.”
Lotte’s address is 320 S. Market. It’s open from 5 to 10 p.m. Tuesdays through Thursdays and from 3 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. It’s closed on Sundays and Mondays.
Reservations are available at tables.toasttab.com
This story was originally published October 24, 2024 at 4:47 AM.
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