Topeka's Billard airport is getting a new restaurant serving Cajun and Creole food

Stacey Saldanha-Olson, Topeka Capital-Journal

Those in the Topeka Oakland community can expect a new restaurant this summer.

The Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority announced SKY Restaurant Holdings LLC, owned by Chris Stemler, will run the new restaurant at Philip Billard Municipal Airport.

"The team at SKY presented us with a dynamic, exciting version for Billard," said MTAA Board Chair Brian Armstrong. "SKY's management team is local, experienced and creative. We feel very confident that visiting aviators and diners from across northeast Kansas will be delighted by what they see and taste at the new SKY Restaurant at Billard."

SKY Restaurant Holdings LLC, owner of The Beacon, and Bobby Santacroce, owner of Bobby's Food Co., will work together at the restaurant.

The MTAA Board posed behind potential meal concepts for the SKY Restaurants.
The MTAA Board posed behind potential meal concepts for the SKY Restaurants.

What food will be served?

The new restaurant will be referred to as SKY by Day, which will serve breakfast and lunch, and SKY by Night, which will serve dinner and a happy hour.

While the menu has not been finalized, Stemler said he plans to serve Cajun and Creole food. He also said they plan to serve a wide range of wines and signature cocktails.

"I love Cajun-Creole style food," Stemler said. "Jambalaya, gumbo, shrimpette, toffee, you know, smothered chicken, almost everything they serve down there is amazing. So, that's really our vision, to lean pretty heavily into that Cajun-Creole and then surround it with some very standard other items."

The new restaurant, SKY by Night will serve a Cajun inspired dinner.
The new restaurant, SKY by Night will serve a Cajun inspired dinner.

When will it open?

Stemler said they don't have a date set for the opening but it will be after July 4.

He said the biggest hurdle will be finding a way to give different dining experiences in the same space for day and night.

"I think the challenge is going to be making sure the experience between the two concepts, the dinner and the lunch and then the second concept for the happy hour and for that later dinner, really changes what people can experience," Stemler said.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Billard airport in Topeka gets new restaurant run by The Beacon owner

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