Reimagined downtown Wichita restaurant is open, serving healthier food faster
.jpeg "Kristopher Rue assembles a bowl at Express Kitchen, a new concept by the owners of The Kitchen.")
The booths and heavy drapes are out. The Chipotle-esque bar displaying dozens of fresh ingredients is in.
And Wednesday, April 23 — Natasha Gandhi-Rue launched a soft-opening period for her reimagined downtown restaurant at 725 E. Douglas, which is no longer The Kitchen but is now known as Express Kitchen.
Last week, Gandhi-Rue shared the plan she’d come up with to help guard her downtown location against the toll she fears the new paid downtown parking plan will take on the business, which she opened in 2016.
Though she’s leaving her larger, full-service second location of The Kitchen at 3622 N. Oliver as is, she closed the downtown location two and a half weeks ago to change it into a quick-service place where customers decide whether they want a wrap, a salad or a bowl then choose their proteins, veggies and sauces from a display of fresh ingredients displayed at the front counter, where they’ll place their orders.
Though Express Kitchen will still be open to dine-in customers, it’s designed to get people in and out with their meals before they have to pay for a parking space. The city of Wichita plans to implement paid downtown parking in July, though people will be able to park for free for 15 minutes.
Gandhi-Rue and her contractor husband, Scott Rue, say they may want to open more locations of Express Kitchen, but they’ll wait at least nine months so they can see how it catches on with customers.
“If the concept works and works well, then we will replicate this on the west side of town and maybe in Andover,” Scott Rue said.
Express Kitchen’s menu is displayed on digital boards behind the counter (and also is included below). It includes healthier proteins, fresh and grilled veggies and a variety of sauces, spices and salad dressings. Protein choices are grilled chicken, chipotle chicken, seared steak, crab sticks, mojo pork and adobo beef.
Customers can build their own bowls, salads or wraps themselves or choose a suggested combination from the menu board. Among the suggested bowls are several that were on the downtown menu previously, including a Thai Bowl and a Spicy Yum Yum Bowl.
“You can always get our standard favorites that people have been enjoying for the last eight years,” Gandhi-Rue said. “But you can also customize your own bowl. Or you can say, ‘I want a Thai Bowl, but can I add a soy-marinated egg to it? Can I add cucumbers to it?’ So you have the ability to make some good choices. “
Gandhi-Rue said she wanted the new restaurant to focus on artfully-arranged bowls, commonly referred to as Buddha Bowls, because they’ve become one of her personal favorites and have helped her drop weight. When she added them to the menu at The Kitchen, they were a hit.
“I started doing Buddha bowls because I got sick of eating salads here,” she said. “I was trying to lose all this weight, and so I was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to start doing these.’ And everybody just fell in love with it, including me. I eat a different Buddha bowl probably four days of the week.”
The new approach also allows groups of people who don’t like the same kind of cuisine to have options. The focus at Express Kitchen is on Asian and Latin flavors, but Gandhi-Rue said that in the future, she may add ingredients that could be used for Italian, Indian or Mediterranean-inspired dishes.
After customers order and pay at Express Kitchen, they fill their own drinks at a drink station and, if they’re dining in, they pick a seat. Though the booths are gone, the dining room still has lots of tables and chairs, and people also can still choose to sit on the restaurant’s spacious back patio.
The only other major change to the inside of the restaurant is new paint, which now includes a border of bright yellow. The owners still plan to add a few more finishing touches, including artwork and plants.
The downtown restaurant no longer has a full bar, but customers can get beer, hard seltzers and canned cocktails. Food is served in disposable containers.
At a soft-opening event on Monday night, the staff was able to quickly serve customers. In fact, Gandhi-Rue said, it got 60 people through the line in 45 minutes.
She’s still considering Wednesday a soft-opening, Gandhi-Rue said, because staff members are all still learning their jobs.
The Kitchen at 3622 N. Oliver, which Gandhi-Rue opened a year ago, won’t change its approach. It will still operate as a full-service, sit-down restaurant with The Kitchen’s original menu. Gandhi-Rue said she hopes to start offering more nightly specials and to also add brunch to her offerings there.
Kitchen Express is being run by Gandhi-Rue’s stepson, Kristopher Rue. Its hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, and its website is xpresskitchen.net
Express Kitchen menu
This story was originally published April 23, 2025 at 5:02 AM.
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