Four years later, this seafood restaurant is returning to its original Wichita address
The first time Sam’s Southern Eatery operated at 6600 W. Central, the restaurant didn’t last. It opened at an inopportune time — in January 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit — and it was gone by December of that year.
Now, a different franchisee is going to try the restaurant in the same building, but in a different space.
Emanuel Ashiedu, who earlier this year opened a Sam’s Southern Eatery in the old DeFazio’s space at 2706 N. Amidon, says he is about two weeks away from opening a second, somewhat smaller version of the restaurant at 6600 W. Central.
But he’ll be taking over the smaller side of the building. Back in 2020, a different franchisee operated Sam’s on the west-side section — better known as the longtime home of Marco’s Cantina, where Casa Mexicana is now.
Earlier this year, I reported that the building’s owner and former Marco’s Cantina proprietor Sam Eddine had decided to open a similar restaurant in the east-side section and call it Mama Deaux Southern Kitchen. He even put signs up.
But, Eddine said, he couldn’t find the right employees to help him launch the restaurant. So he decided to lease the space instead.
Ashiedu, who along with his brother-in-law Charles Scott also has Sam’s Southern Eatery restaurants in Hutchinson and Salina, took over the lease. The Sam’s Southern Eatery signs are now back up on the building.
The east side of the building, best known as the longtime home of Green Olive, isn’t as big as the west side. The new Sam’s will have room for about 30 or 40 diners inside, and it also will have a big front patio space, Ashiedu said. The new Sam’s will have a somewhat smaller menu than the one on Amidon.
Ashiedu and Scott aren’t finished expanding in Wichita, he said. They’d like to open one on the east side of Wichita as well.
“When we find a building, we’ll definitely be out there,” Ashiedu said.
Sam’s Southern Eatery is a chain that originated in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2008, and now has more than 50 restaurants across the country, most in the southern United States.
It serves things like catfish, shrimp, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles and Po’ Boy sandwiches. Customers also can get crab cakes, fish platters, chicken wings and fried oysters.
.jpg)