Wichita restaurant closes after 25 years. Contents will be auctioned this week.
Sunday was the last day in business for the Riverside Cafe at 739 W 13th St., and soon, the contents of the building will be auctioned off.
Melissa Vasquez, who bought the business from longtime owner Paul Cohlmia a little more than two years ago, said that the Riverside location just never recovered from an 18-month shutdown that followed a July 2021 fire. The early-morning fire damaged the back of the restaurant building, and after a long struggle to get contractors and then to find employees, Cohlmia reopened it in January 2023.
But the customers never really came back, said Vasquez, who also owns the Riverside Cafe at 9125 W. Central.
“It used to be really busy before the fire,” said Vasquez, who before buying the two Riverside Cafe restaurants had worked as a server at the Derby Riverside Cafe for seven years. “I think people found a new place to go.”
Vasquez and her husband, Raul, will keep the Riverside Cafe on West Central open, and Vasquez said she hopes people will follow them there.
“We love our customers,” she said.
In August 2024, the couple also bought Copper Oven Cafe & Bakery at 2409 W. 13th St. along with Cohlmia, but they’re no longer involved that business, Velázquez said.
“I want just one store so I can focus on it,” she said.
Bud Palmer Auction will auction off the contents of the 13th Street Riverside Cafe on Wednesday. The sale starts at the restaurant at 9 a.m. and will include booths, tables, bar stools, old pictures of Wichita and lots of kitchen equipment.
Vasquez did not say what might be next for the building, and its owners could not be immediately contacted on Monday.
The Riverside Cafe building is a former gas station that was converted into a restaurant — West-Urn Cafe — in 1946. A number of other restaurants operated in the space over the years, including Osman’s Cafe, Laverna’s Cafe, Ed’s Cafe, Dick and Jayne’s Cafe and P.K’s Riverside Cafe.
In 2006, Cohlmia expanded the 13th Street restaurant — known for its breakfast and blue plate specials — adding a second dining room. Cohlmia opened the West Central Riverside Cafe in 2017 and also had one at 2539 W. Pawnee from 2013 until he closed it in 2017.
Cohlmia also still operates the Riverside Cafe at 824 N. Baltimore in Derby.
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 11:07 AM.
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