Peek inside Wichita’s Johnny’s Tavern, opening soon in the old Anchor space
For many years, The Anchor, at 1109 E. Douglas, was where people could gather downtown for a burger and a beer.
Soon, it will be again.
Lawrence-based Johnny’s Tavern is about to take over the space that was occupied by The Anchor from 2004 until the state shut the business down for nonpayment of taxes in April. Its owners hope to have the Wichita location, which will be the chain’s 14th, open to the public on Feb. 20.
For the past several weeks, crews have been working on transforming the interior of the space. Very soon, the new Johnny’s Tavern sign will be posted on the front of the building.
This week, Johnny’s Tavern partner Kyle Witherspoon gave me a tour of the space, and it was a hub of noisy activity. Workers were everywhere — some cutting wood paneling with a noisy saw, others hanging things high on the walls. The bar’s managers were also on site, meeting with vendors and interviewing job candidates
So far, crews have made some significant changes to the giant restaurant space, though it still has The Anchor’s basic layout along with its brick walls, painted tin ceilings and exposed duct work. The most noticeable change so far: about 40 television sets have been hung around the space and will be able to air just about any televised sporting event anyone wants to see
“We have all the packages: DirectTV, NBA, Big 10 Network,” Witherspoon said. “If there is a sports package that’s available, we have it. On Sundays, if there are 10 games going on, we’ll have them all on.”
Johnny’s crews also built an all-new bar, though they put it back on the far-east wall, where owner Schane Gross moved it when she combined the two separate sides of The Anchor into one in 2023. They’ll soon be working on a new back bar and will remove some of the 96 beer taps that Gross installed. Johnny’s Tavern will have 48 beers on tap, including offerings from some of Wichita’s craft breweries. It will also serve its Blue Collar Lager, which is brewed for Johnny’s Tavern by Free State Brewing Co. in Lawrence.
When the weather warms up, customers also will find more outdoor dining space. The Anchor installed a gated patio in front of the west side of the space, but Witherspoon said that Johnny’s Tavern got permission to add a patio in front of the east side as well.
New bar, new look
When people walk in to Johnny’s Tavern, they’ll be facing the bar side, which will have first-come, first-served seats lining the bar along with high-top tables where the host or hostess will seat people. The west side of the space will be the main dining room with a mixture of seating. All together, Witherspoon said, Johnny’s Tavern should have seats for nearly 200 people.
The food menu in Wichita will be the same one served at the other Johnny’s Tavern locations, all of which are in Lawrence, Kansas City and Topeka. It features bar-friendly appetizers like fried pickles, nachos, pretzels and cheese, and spinach dip, and it also lists eight different burgers, including a smash burger, plus sandwiches and made-from-scratch brick-oven pizzas. It also includes entrees such as a chicken strip platter, hand-breaded fish and chips, and a teriyaki stir-fry.
Witherspoon said that one of Johnny’s bestsellers is its Wilson wings, which are coated in a special sauce then flash fried, charred on a grill and served on top of a bed of fries. He said the restaurant’s salads are also popular, especially the apple walnut crunch salad topped with blue cheese crumbles and raspberry vinaigrette.
Johnny’s also will be a place where food will be served late. Though the owners will wait to set permanent hours until they see what customers want, the kitchen will serve the full menu until midnight on weekends and likely until 11 p.m. on weeknights. The bar will be open until 1:30 a.m.
Not necessarily a KU bar
Though Johnny’s was founded in Lawrence in 1953, it’s not, Witherspoon said, a Jayhawk bar (even though a sign posted over one of the doors warns, “Pay Heed, All Who Enter: Beware of the Phog.” In fact, Witherspoon said, some of the Johnny’s on the Missouri side of Kansas City are heavily patronized by Mizzou fans.
Wichita’s Johnny’s, he said, will be Wichita State University focused. (Fun fact: The general manager for Wichita’s Johnny’s, Caroline Patton, attended Wichita State University and was the person inside the WuShock mascot costume from 2018 to 2019.)
But fans of all teams will feel comfortable there, Witherspoon said. Team flags that are already hanging from the ceiling represent the University of Kansas, Kansas State University, the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University, Pittsburg State University and the Kansas City Chiefs.
More Wichita-themed decor will be hung up before opening day too, Witherspoon said, as will several neon signs.
Johnny’s owners had long wanted to open in Wichita but never could find the right spot, Witherspoon said. They were among the bidders at July’s auction of The Anchor, which eventually was won by Bobbie Lane Real Estate Group owner Bobbie Lane, her husband, Jonathan Lane, and Parabolic Construction owner Adam Church. The partners paid $1.9 million for the Anchor building plus the two buildings next to it and all the buildings’ contents. (The new owners also now own the famous neon sign that hung for years outside The Anchor. They took it down when they had the building painted but plan to reinstall it soon on the west side of Johnny’s Tavern.)
Another of the partners in Johnny’s Tavern, Louie Riederer, previously told The Eagle that the building’s new owners reached out after the auction to gauge Johnny’s Tavern’s interest in leasing the space.
Witherspoon said that the building was the perfect fit.
“We’ve been trying to get down here, but we couldn’t find the right spot, and we didn’t have the right people at the time,” he said. “This has kind of the downtown, urban feel, and we thought it would be a great location.”
Johnny’s Tavern is planning to hire between 65 and 75 people and is now interviewing for all positions. People who are interested can find an application at johnnystavern.com/jobs/
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