A Wichita dinner-only restaurant adds lunch, and a daytime-only restaurant adds dinner
Fans of two popular Wichita restaurants — one that’s open only for breakfast and lunch, the other that’s open only for dinner and weekend brunch — are about to give customers much more access.
Starting next week: Doo-Dah Diner — the downtown restaurant that’s been a popular breakfast and lunch restaurant for a decade — will be adding weeknight dinner hours. And The Belmont, the trendy College Hill restaurant open since 2020 at 3555 E. Douglas, will be adding lunch.
Starting on Wednesday, Oct. 5, Doo-Dah Diner, 206. E. Kellogg, will begin extending its hours to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays. The restaurant, which is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, now always closes at 2 p.m.
Co-owner Timirie Shibley said the restaurant will serve its regular menu during the weeknight dinner hours with the addition of a nightly special. Chef Patrick Shibley is planning things like steak eggs Benedict, meatball lasagna, and open-faced prime rib sandwiches. A menu item that was pulled post-COVID — the Beefy Doo-Dad featuring a beef, cabbage and onion mixture stuffed inside a crusted ball of mashed potatoes — also will make occasional dinnertime appearances.
The daily lunch special also will be available during dinner hours, Timirie Shibley said. Customers will be able to order food for delivery during the dinner hour within an 8-mile radius of the restaurant.
The Shibleys have contemplated adding dinner service several times over the years and were about to launch it just as COVID hit in 2020. Now, they’re fully staffed and it feels like the right time, Timirie said.
Meanwhile, The Belmont is making many of its regular customers’ wishes come true by adding lunch. The restaurant, which opened at 3555 E. Douglas in June 2020, has so far opened at 3 p.m. on weekdays. But starting on Tuesday, Oct. 4, it’ll open at 11 a.m. and serve lunch Tuesdays through Fridays.
The lunch menu, which will be served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., will offer items already found on the dinner menu minus the entrees like fried chicken, salmon, pork belly and rib eye. Executive chef Jacob Cook has come up with several new items for the weekday lunch service, too, including a tuna nicoise salad, a pork belly banh mi sandwich, a chicken salad sandwich, and a steak sandwich on sourdough.
Co-owner Tory DeMarce said that The Belmont owners had planned to add lunch since they opened but wanted to wait until they were fully staffed and operating at a high level.
But lunch service is something customers have been asking for, he said.
“We get people who stop by pretty much every day while we’re here doing paperwork asking if we are open for lunch,” he said. “It has been something we’ve seen on a daily basis.”
One other perk of The Belmont’s lunch addition: Its happy hour, when drinks are discounted, will now start at 11 a.m. and run through 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays.
