Something pretty exciting happened for the Wichita dining scene this week. On Wednesday, the James Beard Foundation put out its list of 2025 semifinalists, and Georges French Bistro was on it. For those who don’t know, the James Beard Awards are like the Oscars for the restaurant industry, and until this week, a Wichita restaurant had never been a semifinalist. Georges is a semifinalist in the Outstanding Restaurant Category. The winners will be announced in Chicago in June.
Speaking of awards, Emmy-award winning actor Kelsey Grammer will be spending time communing with Wichitans next week. The “Frasier” star will be in town Wednesday through Saturday and will make appearances at several restaurants and liquor stores. He’s coming to promote a new partnership between Wichita Brewing Company and his brewery, Faith American. WBC has signed on to brew Faith American beer and supply it around Wichita. To see the full lineup of where Kelsey will be and when, look for my story on Kansas.com or at Dining with Denise on Facebook.
Something else you’ll find at Dining with Denise? The original chicken noodle recipe for the St. Paul United Methodist Church’s annual chicken noodle dinner. The event’s 78th installment happens on Saturday, and I dug deep into the archives to find details and photos from its long history. One thing I unearthed was the chicken noodle recipe that Gladys Wilkinson inherited from her mother then shared with her husband and the dinner’s founder, Lester. For the first installment in 1946, he used three old, fat hens he’d had trouble selling. But if you make the recipe, just grab a chicken at the grocery store.
