A new-to-Wichita restaurant is taking over the east-side Jose Pepper’s building
Wichita’s last remaining Jose Pepper’s restaurant closed a little more than a month ago at the Plazzio Development at 13th and Greenwich. And already, there’s news of a new tenant.
Ugly Dumpling, a New Jersey-based fast-casual restaurant chain that serves Shanghai-style street food favorites, is taking over the building at 11423 E. 13th St., said Ben Gartner of Weigand Commercial Real Estate, who represented the landlord in the deal.
The restaurant should be open within five to seven months, Gartner said.
Ugly Dumpling’s menu is focused on dishes such as soup dumplings, savory wontons, wok-tossed noodles, garlic-infused vegetables and bao in six different flavors. It also serves craft cocktails.
The chain has more than 20 restaurants, most based on the east coast. The Wichita restaurant will be the first for Kansas, though the chain is also about to expand into Texas.
Cliff Long of NAI Desco represented the tenant in the Wichita deal.
Wichita once had two Jose Pepper’s restaurants, and both closed abruptly. The restaurant at 21st and Tyler closed in 2022 after a decade in business. The east-side restaurant, which opened in 2009, closed in mid-March.
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