Elderslie Farm, known for fancy multi-course meals, adding option aimed at everyday diners
A big change is coming to Elderslie Farm, one that will allow more people to regularly enjoy one of the Wichita area’s more unique dining options.
Katharine and George Elder, who have been serving food at the farm at 3501 E. 101st St. North in Kechi since 2012, are switching up how they serve their dinners, which have traditionally happened Thursday through Saturday evenings in a dining room built into the first floor of the family farmhouse on the property.
Instead of offering only a multi-course tasting menu experience, which comes with a hefty price tag and requires a time commitment, the Elders will soon add a regular dinner menu that will provide more of a typical restaurant experience: Diners will be able to choose from a list of more casual and affordable entrees, appetizers and shareable plates. The prix fixe experience also will still be available.
For the next two weekends, the restaurant will operate as usual, offering only its five-course Valentine’s Day menu, which costs $95 a person with an optional $48 wine pairing.
The change will start on Feb. 27, said chef Katharine Elder.
“We want to be more of a part of our customers’ lives,” she said. “We have an amazing following for the cafe, but most of our diners on any given night are there for a birthday or anniversary. We want to see all those people for more simple nights out.”
The new menu will include around nine shareable plates, including things like mussels, charcuterie boards and bone marrow, as well as soups and salads. It also will list several pasta dishes, including hand-cut carbonara made with local eggs and a stuffed cappelletti. Entree choices will include beef short ribs and a couple of fish dishes. A few desserts also will be offered.
Shareable plates will start at $6 for a bread course and go up to $15 for bone marrow. Entrees will run between $18 and $32.
Katharine said she and her husband were inspired by the successful run of “patio nights” they offered the past couple of years during the spring and summer. While the multi-course meal was being served inside the dining room, those who wanted a more casual experience could sit on the patio and order shareable items like baked brie, sliders, and pizza on a puffed pastry crust as well as craft cocktails.
That offering will be folded into the new approach. Anyone who visits, either for the new menu or for the prix fixe dinner, will be seated in the indoor dining room, which holds about 60 people, or — weather permitting — on the patio, which seats 120.
“You can get out of town and enjoy carefully crafted food and beverages, but it’s not always such an undertaking, per se, both from cost perspective and time commitment,” Katharine said of the change. “We just want to be able to share the place and the property with more people.”
Reservations still will be required for the prix fixe meals. They won’t be required for those who want to enjoy the regular menu, but they’ll be accepted (and appreciated), Katharine said.
Elderslie Farm’s dinner hours will remain the same, even after the change: They’re 5 to 10 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, year round.
Dinner isn’t Elderslie Farm’s only offering, though. During the spring and summer, it opens its daytime eatery, called Bramble Cafe. It will launch this year on the weekend of April 5, and on weekend mornings from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., it will offer breakfast and lunch items on the patio.
Elderslie Farm also is known for its big blackberry bramble, and its summertime you-pick appointments tend to sell out every year.
The Elders have expanded their offerings into Wichita a couple of times over the last several years.
In late 2022, it opened a pop-up shop with a small dining area at Bradley Fair called Everyday by Elderslie, which sold the farm’s cheeses and bakery items. It closed in April of last year. The Elders also ran the Wichita Art Museum’s cafe space as Elder’s 1400 by Elderslie from March 2023 until January 2024.
“With the closure of the art museum and the space in Bradley Fair, it’s just been a really exciting opportunity to refocus on this place and where we want to go,” Katharine said.
Elderslie Farm is putting the finishing touches on its new menu, and I’ll post it here as soon as they share it with me.
Elderslie Farm dinner menu
This story was originally published February 12, 2025 at 12:01 PM.
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