Beloved Wichita Mexican restaurant will mark 60 years with weekend celebration
One of Wichita’s favorite restaurants keeps getting older: That’s a good thing in the restaurant business, and a feat not easy to achieve.
On Saturday, Connie’s Mexico Cafe at 2227 N. Broadway will celebrate its 60th birthday. The restaurant — known for its big beef burritos, fried ground beef tacos with peas and potatoes — has been around since April 1963, when Ralph and Connie Lopez opened the doors. Their daughter Carmen, a 15-year-old at the time, was to roll homemade tortilla dough into balls. She would take over the restaurant when her parents retired then eventually died.
Now, Connie’s is in the hands of the family’s third generation, run by Carmen Rosales’ daughters, and they’re ready to celebrate their popular family restaurant, which just keeps evolving. Just after the pandemic, sisters Adele Garcia and CiCi Garcia, who now run the day-to-day of Connie’s, updated the restaurant’s exterior and interior, adding new booths, a mural and even an outdoor patio.
The family celebrates the restaurant’s birthday every year, but this one is a big one, and the owners hope that customers visit on Saturday to help them celebrate the big 6-0. Several special activities are planned: At noon, Ballet Folkloriko dancers will perform at the restaurant, and the day will also include door prizes, cake, live music and drink specials.
For more information about Connie’s, visit or read about its history at https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/restaurants/dining-with-denise-neil/article1114215.html or at www.kshs.org/kansapedia/connie-s-mexico-cafe/10292
You also can peruse this helpful Connie’s timeline:
Connie’s Timeline
1952: Rafael Lopez, a barber by trade, moves his wife, Connie, and small daughter Carmen from Texas to Wichita.
April 1963: The Lopezes open their restaurant on North Broadway in a space that had previously held a bar called Chata’s, right next door to the current Connie’s location. Their 15-year-old daughter, Carmen, is assigned the task of rolling tortilla dough for her mother to turn into burritos she’d sell for 25 cents apiece.
Early 1970s: El Patio restaurant next door moves, and the Lopezes take over the much bigger space. Connie’s still operates there today.
1970: Carmen gets married and has her first daughter, Monique. Her four other children follow and are frequently found running around the restaurant.
1970s: Presidential candidate Jimmy Carter eats at Connie’s.
1976: A semitrailer truck runs into Connie’s, damaging it.
1982: A car hits Connie’s, and the driver dies.
Mid-1980s: Carmen takes over operation of the restaurant from her parents.
1994: Rafael Lopez dies.
2002: Carmen suffers a brain aneurysm and undergoes three brain surgeries in three weeks. She completely recovers.
2004: Another driver hits Connie’s with his car and dies. Carmen remodels and updates the restaurant.
Mid-2000s: Harrison Ford dines at Connie’s on a big beef burrito. He poses for a photo that still hangs on the wall.
2006: Connie Lopez dies.
2013: Connie’s celebrates its 50th birthday.
2017: Connie’s closes for two months to repair structural problems in the kitchen.
2020: Connie’s toughed out the COVID-19 pandemic early but had to temporarily shut down when owner Carmen Rosales and her daughter Adele Garcia tested positive for the virus.
2021: The third generation of Connie’s owners added a big new parking lot, had the restaurant repainted, added new booths and commissioned a mural on the restaurant’s north-facing side featuring an image of the restaurant’s namesake, Connie. In December, the restaurant’s new north-facing patio opened for business.
April 2023: Connie’s turns 60
