Chef Shuffle: More high-profile Wichita cooks are leaving old jobs, taking new ones

Chefs are always on the move in Wichita, and as of late, a few recognizable kitchen leaders have left jobs or gotten new ones.

Here are details on the latest local chef shuffling:

Kris Anderson, executive chef, Sedgwick County Zoo: This chef’s resume includes jobs in kitchens around Wichita, including a stint as executive chef at Vora. He’s also spent time in the kitchens at Napoli, the Hyatt, YaYa’s Eurobistro, Tallgrass Country Club and more.

Anderson, a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in Austin, took a job in November 2022 as sous chef at the zoo, which in 2020 upped its culinary game by hiring food service provider SSA to run its main restaurant, The Beastro, as well as various food stands across the zoo.

But when the zoo’s previous executive chef was recently promoted to a new job in the company, Anderson took over running the show. He was officially named executive chef earlier this month, and he has big plans for food at the zoo. He can’t share all the details yet, he said, but by late spring, he hopes to introduce an “Asian bistro flair” to the zoo’s food offerings, and visitors will be able to get things like banh mi sandwiches, crab Rangoon, egg rolls, spicy chicken strips, boba and more.

James McBride, Siena Tuscan Steakhouse: Last year, McBride took a job as executive chef at Siena Tuscan Steakhouse, the fine-dining restaurant inside the Ambassador Hotel at 104 S. Broadway. Soon, though, he got an offer to work at Chester’s Chophouse and took it. But after only a couple of months, McBride said, he realized he wanted to return to Siena. He started back this week.

“I wanted to return to Siena because I realized I left an opportunity of a rebirth of what used to be an amazing restaurant, and I wanted to return to be a part of the future of Siena,” he said.

Part of his goal will be to bring produce from local farmers back to Siena’s kitchen, he said, and he wants to “bring forth a modernization of the culinary experience helping to push forward that progress alongside all of the younger chefs in town.”

Keegan Courtright, The Bistro at Niche: Chef Bill Crites, who a year ago was hired as chef de cuisine at NICHE — WSU Tech’s National Institute for Culinary and Hospitality Education in downtown Wichita — has recently left the school. And though neither he nor the school had any comment on his departure, director John Michael said that a new chef has been hired to work with students in The Bistro, a student-staffed restaurant that opened in the school over the summer.

Though The Bistro has been closed over winter break, it will reopen soon, and when it does, Chef Keegan Courtright will be leading the students. His title will be sous chef, Michael said.

Courtright most recently worked at the Hyatt Regency Wichita and has an extensive restaurant background, having worked at several high-end restaurants in Kansas City, Michael said.

Look for more details on The Bistro’s reopening soon.