The past couple of weeks have been full of restaurant headlines for Wichita. Not only are two longtime favorites closing but another is about to make a move to a much larger, more centrally located spot.
First, the closings: Though it’s not gone yet, Stroud’s at K-96 and Hillside has only about two weeks left. The owners of the 32-year-old fried chicken restaurant announced last week that they’ll close on May 15. The cost of food and insurance had just risen too much since the pandemic, they said, and the only way forward would be raising prices or shrinking portions.
Also, on Wednesday Wichita learned that The Anchor had been seized by the state for nonpayment of taxes. Schane Gross opened the restaurant 20 years ago, but it’s been closed since the beginning of April. Gross declined to talk on the record about the closing. The restaurant first opened at 1109 E. Douglas in 2004 and became a favorite spot for people in search of craft beer and dishes like The Haystack.
In much happier news, another favorite Wichita restaurant is preparing to move to a bigger spot downtown. Austin and Manu English’s German restaurant Prost is taking over a two-story building next door to Bite Me BBQ on St. Francis. The owners hope to move to the new spot in June. It will have double the space of their current location in shipping container mall Revolutsia. And it will also have an outdoor beer garden where the owners can continue to put on their popular annual Oktoberfest parties.
