Longtime Wichita chef closes his restaurant but could be back in business soon
A longtime Wichita chef has just closed his last remaining Wichita restaurant. But he may not be out of business for long.
Youssef Youssef, who in April 2021 opened Sesame Mediterranean Kitchen in NewMarket Square, recently decided to close that restaurant. Its final day in business was Sunday.
“I was really heartbroken,” he said. “I could not tell anybody. Every time I walk in there, I just want to cry.”
But his lease was up, he said, and renewing it was going to be more expensive. Lebanon-born Youssef said he’d also been dealing with stress over the war in the Middle East and the safety of his relatives still living there, and that stress has been taking a toll. Earlier this year, he closed his other Sesame restaurant, which he opened at Braeburn Square, 21st and Oliver, after two years in business.
There’s a good chance, though, that Youssef will be back in business soon. He didn’t want to share anything more until details were finalized but promised an update once they were.
Youssef first moved to Wichita from Beirut in 1988 to study electrical engineering at Wichita State University. He financed his studies with a job at Cafe Chantilly, one of Latour founder Antoine Toubia’s first restaurants.
He discovered a passion for the restaurant business, and in 1994 he turned a former NuWay Cafe into Le Monde, which closed earlier this year. He sold that two years later and turned a former Popeye’s building at 335 S. Armour (now Towne East Mall Drive) into Marbella Cafe.
In 1999, he sold his interest in Marbella Cafe and went on to open several other Wichita restaurants, including Mediterranean Cafes on east Kellogg, on Tyler Road and in Bel Aire, as well as Kababji at 21st and Webb. He returned to Lebanon in 2002.
In 2006, he returned to Wichita and opened Mediterranean Grill in the old Marbella spot, selling it to co-owner Mustafa Sawli a year later and once again returning to Lebanon, where he lived for 14 years and opened six bakeries.
When economic conditions worsened in Lebanon, he again returned to Wichita and opened Sesame in NewMarket Square.
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