Bradley Fair’s longest-running restaurant is celebrating 30 years in business

When it opened in 1990, Bradley Fair at 21st and Rock Road in Wichita quickly was considered the nicest shopping area in Wichita.

Five years later, when the developers added on to the center’s north end, Bradley Fair got what many at the time — and still today — considered one of the nicest restaurants in Wichita.

Last month, YaYa’s EuroBistro at 8115 E. 21st St. turned 30. The longest-running restaurant in the shopping center, YaYa’s has been through several changes during its three decades — most notably when it was sold to a new owner in 2011.

But more has not changed at YaYa’s than has. Though today it has far more equivalent competitors than it did in the mid-1990s — upscale favorites like Georges French Bistro, Chester’s Chophouse, Vora, The Belmont, Lotte and neighbors Newport Grill and First Mile Kitchen — YaYa’s is still considered one of Wichita’s fanciest restaurants and is still a destination for people celebrating anniversaries and birthdays, families in search of a lavish Sunday or holiday buffet, and music lovers who want to enjoy a band and a meal on a nice summer night.

Most notably, the design and layout of YaYa’s hasn’t substantially changed in three decades, and yet it somehow still looks stylish and current. The broken-mosaic tile floors in shades of pale blue, orange, pink and black — perhaps YaYa’s most distinctive feature — have been in place since opening day, as have the tufted fabric walls in the back of the dining room, the expo kitchen with the wood-burning pizza oven, the wood-beamed ceilings and the limestone accent columns.

“It’s timeless... the feeling, the atmosphere,” said Ty Issa, who has owned the restaurant for 14 years. “I walk in here every day, and I say, ‘What do we do in here?’ There’s nothing to do.”

In fact, Issa said, even though he’s no longer beholden to YaYa’s founder PB&J Restaurants — which still owns four of the six YaYa’s restaurants still in existence in the central United States — he’s reluctant to make any drastic change, including to the menu.

Though he updates the menu every six months to add seasonal ingredients and specials, the mainstays that YaYa’s customers have come to expect never leave the menu. Wichita still serves similar dishes to the ones offered at the YaYa’s restaurants that PB&J still owns in Salina, Overland Park, Little Rock and St. Louis: a mix of salads, upscale appetizers, brick-oven pizzas, house-made pastas and entrees featuring steak, chicken, fish and seafood.

“Customers have high expectations,” said Issa, who also owns Larkspur Bistro in downtown Wichita. “We’ve maintained that, and I think we’ve elevated it.”

Bradley Fair anchor

Bradley Fair’s first batch of restaurants included one upscale eatery — a locally owned European-style bar and bistro called Cafe Allegro. Other tenants in the then-28,700-square-foot shopping center included Gessler Drugs, Fund’Mentals toy store, College Hill Cleaners, Randy Cooper’s Fine Jewelry and a cooking store called Culinary Creations.

The center went up at 21st and Rock in one year’s time, and its grand opening was on Saturday, Nov. 10, 1990. Cafe Allegro, owned by Kent Zakoura and George Kawas, opened in December of that year with seating for 80.

Other restaurants were added to the center during the next five years, including an outpost of La Galette (renamed La Cigale the following year), then a coffee shop called The Brown Pantry Gourmet. In 1993, Bradley Fair signed not only The Gap but also the city’s first Outback Steakhouse, and in the summer of 1994, a bagel shop called Broadway Bagel Co. took over the closed Cafe Allegro space.

Then, in October 1994, Bradley Fair owner George Laham confirmed that the center was not only adding a Banana Republic Store but also a new restaurant owned by Kansas City-based PB&J restaurant group. Co-owners Paul Khoury and Bill Crooks — who at the time had five restaurants in the Kansas City area and one in Branson — said they wanted to open a replica of their Overland Park YaYa’s EuroBistro, which would join Banana Republic in an 18,000-square-foot Bradley Fair addition that was about to break ground.

YaYa’s opened its doors to the public on April 3, 1995, a little less than two months after Latour founder Antoine Toubia’s fine dining restaurant Olive Tree Bistro opened nearby at 29th and Rock Road.

YaYa’s opening menu included dishes like oven-roasted polenta with a wild mushroom balsamic game jus, marinated flank steak pizza, and roast duck with a honey-lavender-thyme stock.

“We even make our own ketchup,” Crooks told the Wichita Eagle at the time.

YaYa’s had to change the spelling of its name to YiaYia’s not long after opening once it was discovered that another eatery already had claim to the name (only to change it back to YaYa’s in 2011 when that business closed). But the restaurant quickly became regarded as one of Wichita’s most prestigious dining destinations, coveted especially for its location on popular Rock Road, which at the time was where everything new was opening

The restaurant began putting on champagne and wine dinners, and seats on its patio were in high demand, especially during the spring and summer. Its lavish Sunday brunch buffet with made-to-order waffles and omelets became a hot ticket. YaYa’s developed a steady clientele of visiting business people, moneyed east-side residents, prom-goers and couples celebrating anniversaries.

New owner, new energy

In 2011, Issa said, he learned that PB&J was interested in selling the Wichita restaurant. Issa — who had purchased Larkspur from Pam Bjork in 2000 — saw an opportunity. He was already an experienced restaurateur who had owned not only River City Brewing Co. but also the east-side Italian Garden restaurant. He also was a real estate partner with his younger brothers, Ali and Mike, who at the time owned a couple of IHOP restaurants, the Hereford House at Terradyne Country Club and a hookah lounge. (They added Scotch & Sirloin to the collection in 2014.)

“YaYa’s had been an anchor and was such a beautiful restaurant,” Issa said. “And I wanted to keep it local.”

Issa said he replaced kitchen equipment and the dining room’s aging chairs, painted the banquet rooms and installed a modern point of sale system. He added a glass-encased wine cellar near the entrance of the restaurant and replaced the chandeliers. He worked on increasing banquet and catering sales, and he tried to instill a strict culture of service among his staff.

He also tried to hire head chefs who understood his desire to keep customer favorites — like the roasted chicken, the center-cut filet, the shrimp and scallops, the salmon salad, and the always-popular chocolate phyllo brownie dessert — on the menu while also updating it to go along with the seasons.

Issa also expanded YaYa’s scenic, shaded outdoor patio, making it the place to see and be seen on summer nights, and after restaurants started reopening from the pandemic, he added a wall of retractable garage doors on where the dining room connected to the patio. Now, on nice days, they can be completely opened up to bring the outside in.

Issa is so busy running his restaurants, he admitted, that it nearly slipped his mind that YaYa’s was approaching a big milestone.

Despite — or perhaps because of — the fact that Issa has changed the restaurant very little over the years, it remains a Wichita favorite. Lunchtime is always busy with business people in suits alongside groups of older women who have been YaYa’s customers since it first opened. Evenings are always busy, too, especially on Wednesdays, when martinis are $5 off .

YaYa’s also draws crowds for jazz on Wednesday nights and for a rotating lineup of live bands on Friday and Saturday nights from April through September. Those nights, customers have to arrive early to snag one of the 140 first-come, first-served patio seats. And as live music nights wear on, the patio often turns into a dance floor.

YaYa’s Sunday brunch buffets are more popular than ever, said the restaurant’s banquet and marketing manager, Kira Thompson. Holiday brunches are an extra big deal: People started calling last November for Easter Sunday reservations, and YaYa’s served a sold-out crowd of 850 people that day. Issa also had to start offering a Mother’s Day brunch at Larkspur several years ago just to handle the overflow of people who couldn’t get YaYa’s reservations.

Many of YaYa’s most loyal diners say they appreciate how little the restaurant has changed over the years, Thompson said.

”People, especially the long-term customers, have almost an expectation when they come in,” she said. “People comment on it all the time. They’ll leave and they come back and they’re like, ‘Wow, it hasn’t changed.’”

But YaYa’s has also started attracting new customers, Issa said. On Saturday nights, the dining room is often filled with younger people celebrating bachelorette parties and birthdays. During the springtime, prom-goers quickly fill the dining room’s 150 seats.

Pressed to speculate what’s helped YaYa’s survive so long at Bradley Fair, Issa points to his staff of 60 led by longtime general manager Tibb Sheer and by recently promoted head chef Victor Hernandez.

Issa is fully aware that he’s developed a reputation as a demanding boss. But people who can meet his standards survive for a while at YaYa’s — and they’re rewarded with great paychecks, he said.

“The team we have, they’re very passionate and sincere about what they’re doing, and they take pride in what they put out there, from behind the bar or in the kitchen,” Issa said. “That’s the longevity right there. If you’re able to produce that consistency and deliver, that’s what the customer is looking for.”

YaYa’s EuroBistro Wichita menu

This story was originally published May 8, 2025 at 5:03 AM.

Denise Neil

The Wichita Eagle

316-268-6327

Denise Neil has covered restaurants and entertainment since 1997. Her Dining with Denise Facebook page is the go-to place for diners to get information about local restaurants. She’s a regular judge at local food competitions and speaks to groups all over Wichita about dining.