Aspiring Wichita cooks, foodies finding fun, education at Bradley Fair store
If you’ve never cooked at all, the type of cooking classes that are regularly offered around Wichita might not be much help.
But if you’re someone who loves food and wants to learn how to cook a specific dish — or if you’re just looking for a best-friend activity, a fun date-night idea, or a gift for your favorite foodie — Wichita is full of options.
Among the city’s newest cooking class providers is Sur La Table (pronounced “sir lah tahb”), the upscale kitchen store chain that opened in May 2024 at 2142 N. Rock Road in Bradley Fair. In addition to selling high-end mixers, coffee makers, dishware and cookware, the store also has a large demonstration kitchen set up in its northwest corner.
Every day, a team of staff chefs put on multiple hands-on cooking classes in that kitchen, which is fitted with the latest-and-greatest in kitchen technology. Some classes offer instruction on difficult-to-prepare baked goods like croissants or macarons. Others walk students through all the steps for preparing an entire meal: Choices in October have included a class focused on French bistro fare; one that explores the flavors of Italy; and another where students prepare an autumnal steak dinner.
The classes have become more and more popular since the store opened, said general manager Neisha Adams: The most in-demand classes have been those where students are taught to make fresh pasta, she said.
The store offers about 20 classes a month, and they generally start at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. About 80% of the chain’s 65 U.S. stores offer classes, and the topics are mostly standard across the chain and timed to correspond with the season: Meals perfect for Valentine’s Day are the subjects of February classes, and March will always include a Mardi Gras-themed class.
Each store keeps about five to seven teaching chefs on staff. Many of them are culinary school graduates. Some come from the restaurant world, Adams said. All come from the market where the stores are based.
The Wichita Sur La Table, she said, has already developed a core group of regulars, many of whom take classes over and over. Otherwise, she sees the same types of students: Young people hoping to beef up their kitchen skills, retirees looking for something fun to do, and couples looking for a fun date-night experience.
“And then there’s that third demographic that we want to encourage more,” she said. “It’s people who know the basics of cooking but they maybe don’t have the time or are scared to try something new. We’re trying to get that other demographic of women and men who know the basics and just want to elevate their skills.”
A few months ago, I tried one of Sur La Table’s classes. I’m a charter member of demographic No. 3 — I love to cook and am good at it, but some recipes intimidate me.
I’ve always wanted to learn how to make croissants, so early one Saturday morning, I tied on an apron and embarked upon a three-hour journey through croissant making, led by Bethany Annuschat, a professionally trained chef working toward a food science degree.
Making expert-level croissant dough, my two other classmates and I learned, is a multi-day process. But Annuschat had prepared some in advance that we could work with. Even so, she took us through every step of the dough-making process, and we all got a chance to handle the dough, beat the dough (necessary, I learned), fold the dough and cut the dough.
Before we left, we’d prepared batches of mini croissants, of chocolate croissants and of kouign-amann, a French breakfast croissant that’s cooked in a muffin-tin and laminated with butter and sugar, which creates a crunchy, caramelized crust.
Classes usually have around eight people, but mine was small, and we all got lots of individual attention. One of my classmates — Daniel DeGroot — was given the chance to take the class as a gift from his wife, Erin. The other, Maria Pagan, was a seasoned cook who just wanted a croissant-making refresher course.
We got two 15-minute breaks throughout the course of the morning, and all three of us used it to peruse the store’s shelves: Every cooking class student gets 10% off an item the day of the class, and I went home with a jar of chocolate sticks used to make chocolate croissants.
Annuschat also sent each student home with a box of the croissants we’d prepared and with a detailed instruction packet listing the steps for preparing and folding croissants. Mine is waiting in a special place in my kitchen for me, and I hope to soon find the time to try it on my own.
After my class, I feel confident I’ll be able to do it. I learned that croissant making is not as difficult as I feared it would be: It just requires a lot of waiting in between steps.
In addition to regular adult classes, which run between $89 and $99 a person, Sur La Table also offers kids cooking classes in the summer. They can put on private events in their kitchen and offer private cooking classes for individuals or groups. More details about Sur La Table’s cooking classes are available at www.surlatable.com/locations?q=Wichita
Following are some details on other places in Wichita that regularly offer cooking classes:
Wichita State University Community Education Classes
These not-for-credit classes are staged throughout the year and offer community members a chance to learn new skills or hobbies, and many of the classes are about food and drink.
At the moment, fall sessions are wrapping up. But WSU will start a new round of community education classes in late February that will cover topics like Mexican food cooking, cookie decorating, Scotch tasting, wine tasting and tequila tasting.
I have been teaching an online class for WSU Tech twice a year since the pandemic. My fall installment about holiday recipes is about to end, but I’ll return in the spring for a session that includes classes from 6 to 8 p.m. Mondays for six weeks. Mine happens over Zoom: Students watch me cook from my kitchen and, if they want, join along from their own kitchens. The final class of the session is a big potluck party at my house.
Enrollment in the classes costs between $45 and $129 a person. Watch for the spring line up at www.wichita.edu/academics/communityeducation/classes.php#food
Mark Arts cooking classes
When Mark Arts relocated in 2017 to a new building at 1307 N. Rock Road, it gained some primo space for cooking classes. The new $19 million building included a “culinary arts studio” with an industrial-grade kitchen specifically designed to host cooking classes.
Ever since, Mark Arts has offered a packed schedule of hands-on cooking classes, taught by local food experts including the Wichita Eagle’s former food editor, Joe Stumpe, Nourish ICT founder Jamelah Kauffman, and plant-based chef Nina Winter.
The cooking classes generally happen from 6 to 8 p.m. (though there are a few daytime options) and cost between $45 and $85 a person. Among the classes coming up over the next several weeks: “Tapas of the World” on Oct. 28, “Chili and Cinnamon Rolls” on Oct. 29, and “Thankful Cookies” on Nov. 1.
Enroll in Mark Arts cooking classes at markartsks.com/classes-workshops
All Things Barbecue
This Delano barbecue store has a chef on staff who’s known across the country for his barbecue prowess. Not only does he offer online cooking demonstrations via the company website, but he also often puts on in-person cooking classes at the store on Douglas, which is fitted with a massive kitchen.
There’s also a new chef on staff, Erin McNaught, who is teaching some hands-on classes over the next two weekends. She’ll lead a croissant loaf class from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday and a hands-on Mediterranean Dip Board class from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 25. Jackson will put on classes in November and January. For more information and to sign up, visit www.atbbq.com/
Scheels
This big outdoors store in Towne East Square offers occasional cooking classes, though they’re demonstration only. The next ones will be on Saturday, Nov. 8, and will be led by pitmaster David Bouska, who will demonstrate how to trim, prepare, cook and serve turkey and brisket. Classes will happen at 9:30 a.m. and again at noon. Tickets are $25 a person and are for sale now. To get them, visit www.facebook.com/wichitascheels/events
Rent The Chef
Chef Jason Febres offers two types of cooking classes at his catering business’s headquarters in Valley Center. One is a private class with an eight-person minimum. And when it’s not peak wedding season, as it is now, Febres also offers group classes every three months or so. He said he’ll likely launch them again in January.
All the classes are hands-on, he said. Watch for availability at rentthechefcatering.com
Niche
WSU Tech’s downtown culinary school Niche, 124 S. Broadway, also is about to begin offering non-credit “open education” cooking classes for the public and has several coming up in November and December. Topics covered will include charcuterie board assembly, soup making and Thanksgiving prep. The hands-on classes will all take place at the school. Watch for more information soon.
Other places that occasionally offer classes
Though they don’t have any sessions on the books now, restaurants The Kitchen, 3622 N. Oliver, and Argentina’s Empanadas, 3700 E. Douglas, also sometimes offer cooking classes. Watch their Facebook pages for updates.
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