New Latin restaurant will open in Wichita in December, but owners are serving food now

Their restaurant space won’t be up and running until sometime in December.

But Maggie Pichinte and her husband, Josef, are not letting that stop them from launching their new business, called Las Abuelas.

The Wichita couple, who both hail from Latin countries, plan to start serving a limited menu starting today — Monday, Oct. 17 — from under a tent outside the site of their future restaurant, which is at 535 N. Woodlawn, suite 330. The couple is taking over the vacant space previously occupied by Petra Cafe, which is in a strip center to the east of Wichita Brewing Company.

For now, the hours will be 11 am. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, and customers are invited to get food to go or to sit and enjoy at an outdoor table.

Las Abuelas, which translates to “the grandmothers,” will serve many of the recipes the couple grew up eating, Maggie said. She was raised in Mexico and Spain, and Josef is Salvadoran. Their menu will include staples like tacos, burritos and tortas, and it will also offer “down-to-earth soups you only find in your grandmothers’ kitchen,” like pozole and beef stew with oxtail.

The restaurant will also serve several regional specialties, including a Salvadoran smothered torta called panes rellenos. Empanadas also will be on the menu.

At first, the restaurant will have a limited menu. Maggie said she hopes people will come give the food a try because sales will help the couple finance the completion of the indoor space, which will have seating for about 100.

“We’re hoping to bring back the old dishes we grew up with — basic dishes you would find in every home over there but are very hard to come by here,” she said. “We want to be able to bring that small taste of home here.”