Travis Russell
Volunteer Food CommentatorTravis Russell is the owner and chef of the Public at the Brickyard in Wichita, Kansas. The restaurant prides itself on serving local ingredients and micro-brews to customers in historic Old Town. Russell designed the space, fabricated tables and lighting, and created the restaurant’s food and cocktail menu before it opened in 2012.
Public has won numerous awards and has been featured on national television shows and publications. In 2014, Public was featured on Travel Channel’s BBQ Crawl and Alton Brown later visited the restaurant to blog about the restaurant’s locally sourced menu. The restaurant was featured in Alice Water’s restaurant guidebook “Truth, Love & Clean Cutlery.” Public was also named a top 50 restaurant by MSN.Com and has been featured in numerous publications such as The Chicago Tribune and Beer Advocate.
Chef Russell made the transition from artist to chef in 2012. He received his Bachelors of Fine Art in printmaking from The University of Kansas in 2003 and earned a Masters of Fine Art from Washington University in St. Louis in 2007. Russell spent nine years in St. Louis and acted as an adjunct professor at Washington University, St. Charles Community College and Florissant Valley Community College. While in St. Louis, Russell also founded the mobile screen-printing company “The Curtain Factory.” In five short years, the company landed clients such as Staples, Captain Morgan, 901 Tequila, Boulevard Brewing and the St. Louis Rams.
A recipient of the 2012 Creative Stimulus Grant from The Regional Arts Commission in St. Louis, Russell has exhibited at The Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis; Good Citizen Gallery, St. Louis; Lexington Art League, Lexington; Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis; DIY gallery, Los Angeles; Louisiana State University School of Art, Baton Rouge; Duane Reed Gallery, St. Louis; and Lump Gallery, Raleigh.
Russell was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1980. He attended North High School and grew up in West Wichita. He currently lives in College Hill with his wife Brooke, their sons Theo and Arlo, and their three dogs Obi, Rosie and Daisy.
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Events and festivals can create an infectious excitement throughout the city. Chef Travis Russell talks about our midwestern hospitality that was on display during a recent event on this week’s “Flyover Food.” -
Chef Travis Russell says the local food scene is about more than, well, food. It’s about community, collaboration — and sometimes a bit of experimentation. Russell recently experienced all of that as he tells us on today’s “Flyover Food.” -
On Flyover Food, Chef Travis Russell shares insights gained from a recent cooking class. -
Food creates an opportunity for connection - for the diners at a restaurant and for the people who serve them. Even if it's just for one evening. Today on Flyover Food, Chef Travis Russell shares a recent experience that reminded him that he's doing more than just making food. -
Flour, salt, and water—simple ingredients, and the foundation of old-world sourdough bread. Sharon Entz, owner of Crust & Crumb in Newton embraces this simplicity. On this edition of Flyover Food, Travis Russell tells us about Sharon - and the community she’s created through baking. -
Wichita Chef Travis Russell has a passion for exploring the local food culture and the sense of community it creates. In this episode, Travis looks at a restaurant that celebrates the owner’s heritage - through taquitos. -
Travis Russell has been a chef in Wichita for over a decade. During that time he has developed a passion for exploring the local food culture. In this new commentary, Travis explores how restaurants, markets and growers build a sense of community through food.
