A team of food truckers from Wichita is about to get a lot more famous. Argentina’s Empanada owners Carolina Brandan and her husband, Chad Freeman, along with their friend, Paola Mentis, are contestants on the new season of “The Great Food Truck Race” hosted by Tyler Florence on Food Network. This season’s installment debuts at 7 p.m. on Sunday, June 30th. I had a chance to interview the Wichita team at length about their experience filming the show and about how they plan to capitalize on their pending fame. Read all about it at Dining with Denise on Facebook or on Kansas.com.
If you live in northwest Wichita, you’ll also be interested in all the restaurant news coming out of the already busy North Maize Road. Not only is a new Smoothie King going in front of the Lowe’s near 29th and Maize, but construction started last week at that same intersection on Wichita’s second Slim Chickens restaurant. Meanwhile, a new McDonald’s is slated for 37th and Maize, and the Panera at 21st and Maize is considering a move to the old Torchy’s building at 29th and Maize.
Finally, Wichita has recently lost one of its restaurant pioneers. On Monday, the family of Barn’rds founder Ken Hertel closed the longtime restaurant for his funeral services. He died on June 18 and his son Troy is remembering his father as a compassionate employer who also loved his customers. Even after he turned over the reins of the restaurant to Troy 15 years ago, Ken would continue to visit Barn’rds for four hours every day, visiting with his customers from his favorite table. Ken Hertel was 82.
