Wichita and its signature side dish are featured in a Washington Post article
In mid-April, I received an email I was not expecting.
It was from Kansas City-based food writer Jed Portman, who told me he was going to be in Wichita soon. He had a request.
“I’m wondering if you have a few minutes to eat garlic salad and/or talk. . .” the message read. Portman went on to say that he was developing a garlic salad recipe for The Washington Post.
Come again?
As many Wichitans of a certain age know, garlic salad is a throwback delicacy that became an obsession during the city’s supper club era, when restaurants like Doc’s Steak House, Ken’s Klub and Abe’s featured it on their menus.
It was made out of lettuce or cabbage or celery – that’s part of the debate — and its mayonnaise-based dressing was screaming with garlic flavor that was provided either by chopped cloves or garlic powder. That’s another part of the debate.
Garlic salad is less of a thing these days, though many restaurants still serve it, including La Galette, Oasis Lounge, NuWay and B&C BBQ, where owner Carey Maurer recently began serving a version of the salad he believes is the Doc’s Steak House original.
Portman said that he’s always on the lookout for unique Midwestern dishes and discovered garlic salad years ago. He can’t remember if he first tried it at Leeker’s in Valley Center or at NuWay in Wichita, but ever since, he’s been going out of his way to try different versions whenever he’s near Wichita. He pitched a story about garlic salad to The Washington Post, and they bit. His piece was published online today and will be in print on Wednesday.
.jpeg "IMG_4357 (1).jpeg")
Maurer of B&C BBQ actually was inspired to dig the recipe he just began serving out of his late mother’s recipe book after he chatted with Portman during his Wichita visit. I was present for that exchange, as that’s where I met Portman for our talk about garlic salad. He’d already, at that point, taken an extensive garlic salad tour of Wichita and had spoken with former Wichita Eagle food editor Joe Stumpe, who in 2003 researched the topic for an article that appeared in the Eagle and included the recipe from Ken’s Klub. Both Joe and I are quoted in the article.
If you want to bask in the national attention Wichita (and garlic salad) are receiving thanks to the article published on the Washington Post’s website today, or if you want to try the recipe Portman developed, follow this link: www.washingtonpost.com/food/2026/05/18/wichita-garlic-salad-is-regional-specialty-worthy-national-attention/
This story was originally published May 18, 2026 at 12:52 PM.
.jpg)