New art museum cafe opens this week. Get a peek inside and at the menu
The new cafe at the Wichita Art Museum — which will be called Eat at The Wichita Art Museum — has been secretly serving food for about a month. It started out feeding the janitorial staff, then added the museum staff, then the museum board. After that, any visitors who wandered in were able to order, too.
The practice runs went well, said Bill Rowe, the owner of Blue Moon Caterers and of the new WAM cafe. And now, the staff is ready to begin serving the public.
Eat, which has taken over the longtime restaurant space just off the museum’s Great Hall, opened officially on Wednesday.
Its hours will be 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. The cafe also will likely soon open during WAM Nights, which are special after-hours events the museum puts on from 5 to 9 p.m. on Fridays.
Rowe, who earlier in his career also owned once-popular Wichita restaurants Red Bean’s Bayou Grill and Willie C’s Cafe, said that he’s pleased with how the new cafe turned out.
“I love the space,” he said. “The space is really beautiful.”
He’s also proud of the menu, which he shared and is included below. It lists several appetizers, salads, soups (including Willie C’s recipe for potato soup) and sandwiches. But the star might be the flatbreads, Rowe said. The menu includes five different varieties, including one topped with steak and Gorgonzola and one that features grilled chicken, Thai sauce, veggies, herbs and a drizzle of coconut cream.
“We spent a stupid amount of time on the development of the flatbread dough,” he said. “We use a 72-hour cold fermentation process, and we bought the latest and greatest oven technology. It’s the best flatbread in Wichita. It’s amazing.”
The menu also includes a few desserts: a lemon sugar cookie, a chocolate chip and sea salt cookie, and a version of Willie C’s Willie Wonder, which is a layered chocolate dessert that’s served with ice cream.
Museum visitors also can get coffee and espresso drinks, teas and refreshers. And the menu includes two brunch items: a quiche Lorraine and avocado toast.
Those who visit the cafe will order at a kiosk, at the register or via a QR code. Those who order via the QR code will get a text when it’s time to pick up their food. Otherwise, staff members will deliver food to the tables.
Eat won’t have alcohol at first but will add it once its liquor license has been issued.
Rowe said that the cafe space, which has been vacant since Katharine Elder’s 1400 by Elderslie restaurant closed in January 2024 after less than a year, didn’t need much remodeling— just some new paint, new signage and new wall vinyl. The new operators also kept the private dining space that’s been a feature of the cafe since it was remodeled in 2003.
“I think it would be perfect if someone wanted to have a serious business meeting or something,” Rowe said. “We have that room, and we will do table service in there.”
Blue Moon Caterers, which has been in business in Wichita since 2002, started handling catering and bar service for WAM, 1400 W. Museum Blvd., after the previous restaurant closed. The museum and Blue Moon want EAT to appeal not only to the typical art museum visitor but also to families, kids and people who live near the museum in the Riverside neighborhood.
Eat at Wichita Art Museum menu
This story was originally published November 18, 2025 at 2:32 PM.
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