Wichita cafe that specializes in organic food served late is adding a food truck
He couldn’t find the kind of food he wanted to eat later at night — the kind of food he felt he needed to calm his painful ulcerative colitis.
So Benjamin Brizendine, along with his wife, Susan Mattingly, decided they’d open their own cafe serving the organic meals they craved later in the evenings, when fast-food restaurants were all that was open.
In February, the duo opened Night Owl Cafe at 1018 W. Maple, taking over a space that previously was occupied by an antique dealer. The cafe has been open off and on since then as Brizendine has dealt with his health issues. But he now has a trusted employee helping him keep regular hours, and soon, he plans to launch a food truck, he said.
The truck also will be called Night Owl, he said, and it will serve some of the same organic items on the restaurant menu — panini, homemade soups and acai bowls. He plans to take it to local events or park it outside of bars to serve late-night crowds.
The truck should be ready by Aug. 1, he said.
“We don’t see anything else like it: an organic smoothie or acai bowl truck,” Brizendine said. “We never see paninis, and I feel like people want it.”
The cafe is open daily from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., though Brizendine said he hopes to stretch closing time to midnight starting in August.
Night Owl Cafe’s menu includes coffee drinks like lattes and mochas as well as specialty toasts, including avocado toast and peanut butter toast. Customers also can get acai bowls, cereal and other sweet treats. Lunch and dinner options include panini sandwiches and homemade soups including potato, tomato and vegetable.
“For some reason, my soup sells like crazy,” he said. “Everyone loves the soup. It’s good, and I think it’s because it’s organic. I make it from scratch, and nobody else does that. They get soup in a bag out of the fridge or freezer.”
Soon, Brizendine said, he plans to add salads, smoothies and milkshakes to the cafe menu.
The small dining room has a few booths, a couple of high tops and a conversation area that includes a coffee table and four chairs. It even has a piano.
Customers order their food at the counter, where they’ll find a digital menu board.
So far, Brizendine said, his customers have been people who are in search of organic food, something that’s not easy to find in local restaurants. Almost everything inside Night Owl Cafe is organic, he said. He even makes the coffee using spring water.
“So far I’m the only one that does spring-water coffee,” he said. “Most of the other coffee that I’ve had in town, even if it goes through a filtration process, it tastes a little fishy, and it’s because it comes from Cheney Reservoir. We strictly do not like water from the tap here.”
Brizendine said he’s done a little bit of everything for work, from demolition services to home remodeling and restoration. He also is the owner of Nimbus, a smoke shop at 2835 E. 31st St. South.
Night Owl Cafe menu
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