New Wichita steakhouse will have prime food, golden toilets, ‘largest corkscrew in Kansas’
Greg Hiser’s in-progress KVH Chophouse at 29th and Tyler has finally reached the “it looks like the architect’s drawing” phase of construction — at least from the outside.
So what does the fine-dining restaurant — which should be open sometime in May — look like on the inside?
For now, it’s still a bit of a construction zone, though that is quickly changing day-by-day. Recently, Hiser gave me an inside look inside the restaurant, which he describes as a “prime steakhouse” that he says will be dimly lit, classy and serve the best-quality food and drinks.
It will also include many unique-to-Wichita features that will set it apart from its competitors, most of them on the east side. Among them: golf cart parking, golden toilets, its own little vineyard, and the largest corkscrew in Kansas.
“This represents my idea of a perfect fine-dining steakhouse,” said Hiser, a pilot who built his career in aircraft insurance and also founded Hangar One Steakhouse back in 2009, selling it 10 years later.
Hiser first announced his new self-financed restaurant project more than a year ago, and in September of 2023, I published an architectural drawing of the steakhouse Hiser was planning — a modern-looking black-and-white building fitted with a big neon sign reading KVH, which stands for Keith and Verna Hiser, the owner’s late parents.
At the time, Hiser said that he hoped to have the restaurant open by the end of last year, but that didn’t happen. The reason, he said recently, is that he just kept coming up with additions he wanted to make.
“We kept changing stuff,” he said. “None of this was going to be as fancy as it is, but I kept saying, ‘Let’s put more and more into it.’”
Grand piano and a ‘wall of champagne’
At the moment, the restaurant is mostly complete on the outside, minus landscaping, but inside, it’s a hub of construction noise and the smell of new construction.
I recently met Hiser for our tour at the restaurant and was greeted by the loud buzzing saws of trim carpenters finishing their work. We started at the restaurant’s soon-to-be dramatic entryway, which features a two-story-high ceiling that will eventually be fitted with a massive chandelier meant to be visible from outside. The centerpiece of the entrance will be a hostess stand that will be fitted with an Optimyst system — an electric fireplace that creates the illusion of real open flames. Hiser said that the systems are common features in Las Vegas restaurants, and he decided KVH needed one.
The entryway also has been designed to include 72 private wine lockers, where members of the restaurant’s wine club can keep the bottles they’ve purchased. In the center of the wall of lockers will be a display case featuring a variety of meat cleavers.
From the entry, customers will proceed to the right to access the bar or to the left to access the dining room. Both areas have an equal amount of space and are separated by a long, narrow wine room fitted with enough racks to store 1,000 bottles. Hiser is considering putting a few tables in the wine room where people can sit on special occasions.
The elaborate bar area has a lot going on: The focal piece is a raised stage near the front window where Hiser has purchased a grand piano: He plans to have live piano music three to four nights a week. Behind the piano is a “wall of keys” — a section that trim carpenters designed to look like piano keys. Another giant chandelier will hang above the piano and be visible from the street.
On the other side of the piano, Hiser is building a “wall of champagne,” constructed with mirrors and brass fixtures and space to display the bubbles that the restaurant carries. Nearby, he plans another chandelier whose glass orbs are designed to look like champagne bubbles.
The big u-shaped bar will be surfaced with back-lit onyx that will be lighted from below, producing a dim glow. Behind the bar will be more walls displaying wine and meat cleavers.
The bar also will have two vino machines, which Hiser bought from Danielle and Ken Harmon when they closed their Alzavino Wine Tavern at 1001 W. Douglas last summer. The systems allow bartenders to dispense wines by the ounce or by the glass from a system that injects argon gas into the bottles as they’re emptied, which keeps them from spoiling. That will allow Hiser to open expensive bottles to serve by the glass without having to worry about wasting them. People will be able to try labels like Silver Oak without splurging on a whole bottle.
The bar area will have three large half-circle booths with tall backs, but Hiser hasn’t decided if those seats will be first-come, first-served or among the seats people must reserve. The stools lining the bar will be open seating.
Hiser said he did want the bar to be special.
“When the wife and I go out, we prefer to sit at the bar, and more people are kind of joining that,” he said.
Contrast, textures and antique touches
To move from the bar to the dining room, customers will pass the exit door to the restaurant’s outdoor patio, which faces the residential lake east of the restaurant. Hiser said he had a tall wooden wall built to block off the patio — which will be fitted with fire pits — from the neighborhood next door. Several children who live near the restaurant love to play on their swing set, Hiser said, and he wanted to create some separation. To make friends with the kids, Hiser said with a laugh, he bought a big happy face flag and tacked it up on the side of the fence that faces the swing set. He’s already received word that the kids approve.
Just down from the exit door is another door that leads into one of two private dining rooms. This room, named “The Keith” in tribute to Hiser’s late father, has enough space for a small group of people plus audio visual equipment, if needed. Hiser said the room can be used for any type of group meeting and just needs to be reserved.
Beyond the meeting room is the main dining room, which Hiser said will have seating for about 75. It will be a lush space that has 12 tables in the center and six big booths — three on each side of the tables.
The dining room will also feature a table in the center that will always have a large flower arrangement on it, and Hiser —an antique enthusiast — says he is searching for a Louis XVI antique side table to use on the back wall.
The dining room will be decorated with brass sconces, wine cabinets and fine art. Much of the floor will be wood, although a strip of carpet will run down the center of the dining room to help with acoustics.
“I like contrast,” Hiser said. “I like textures. That’s what it’s all about.”
Off of the main dining room is a second private space that faces Tyler Road. Named for Hiser’s mother, Verna, it’s smaller than The Keith room but will be decorated with a more feminine touch, including floral prints and a chandelier. Verna’s name will be spelled out in neon above the door.
“It’s a small room, but I envision a bunch of gals coming in here... to drink some champagne, have a good time, and talk about their husbands,” Hiser said.
Hiser also explained a few other touches he’s excited about, including the golden toilets he’s ordered for the ladies room, which will also have golden sinks, emerald-colored tiles and large doors that run all the way to the floor at each stall.
The hallway to the restroom will feature displays of antique corkscrews that Hiser has collected over the years. And speaking of corkscrews, a giant one that Hiser had made will sit in the front courtyard. It’s a conversation piece that’s 8 feet long with a 6-foot-tall handle.
“It’s heavy as hell,” said Hiser, describing the corkscrew as one of those middle-of-the-night ideas that just hit him. “It takes four guys to move it.”
Hiser also plans to plant a small vineyard with Kansas-friendly Norton grapes.
“I want it to look cool, unique and different,” he said.
The front of the restaurant also has something that neighbors had been constantly asking him about: a parking area for their golf carts. When Hiser decided to move his trash bins to the north side of the parking lot and away from the houses to the restaurant’s south — another neighbor request — it freed up room for a small golf cart parking lot.
‘Downhill from there’
Hiser’s crews started painting last week, and installation of the drop-ceilings will be next.
“And then it’s pretty much downhill from there,” he said.
Hiser’s next priority is hiring staff, especially for two key positions: general manager and chef.
He’s already interviewed a few people, he said, but he’s looking for just the right fits — especially in the chef position. He prefers someone local who knows Wichita, he said. If he can’t find that person in the area, he’ll go somewhere like Oklahoma, he said.
The chef must be someone with the creative ability to help design the kind of menu Hiser envisions, someone who understands both the creative and business aspects of running a kitchen, and someone who can articulate his or her vision to the customers.
”I’m taking my time. I want to choose the right person,” Hiser said. “I have to have the right GM, and I have to have the right chef. Both of those people share my bottom line, and I want them to be vested here.”
Hiser said he hoped to have the GM and chef roles filled within the month.
The restaurant’s menu will include prime steaks, lobster and some specialty items that Hiser has already dreamed up though he’s not ready to share details yet. Though the restaurant won’t be inexpensive, he hopes it will be a place people find accessible.
“Our steaks, I want to be competitively priced, but I’m going to be as competitive as we can be and serve prime food,” he said. “That sometimes doesn’t go hand-in-hand, but I’m going to try to make it go hand-in-hand as much as I can.
“I don’t want you to be out here just on your birthday or Valentine’s Day. I want you to be out here once a week. twice a week. I want you to say, ‘Hey, it’s a neighborhood place,’ so you come out here and sit at the bar and have a drink or two and a steak.”
Though the restaurant is taking longer to complete than he originally planned, Hiser said that winter — when fewer people are out and about — is the right time to be behind.
He’s trying to do everything right, he said, and part of his research was traveling to other steakhouses around the country to check out trends and see what’s new in fine dining.
“I don’t want to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “I want to do what’s good and give people what they want.”
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 5:03 AM.
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