Chef Jeremy Wade is making big changes to how his brunch restaurant operates

Almost a year and a half ago — in May of 2022 — chef Jeremy Wade opened a second Wichita restaurant: Magnolia Cafe, which took over the former Sweet Basil/Fred & Barney’s spot at 2424 N. Woodlawn.

Since then, he’s been trying to figure out exactly what his customers want from the restaurant, which started off serving only breakfast, brunch and lunch.

Wade has tried a variety of different approaches during the restaurant’s tenure. Most recently, he’s been opening for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays and for lunch Tuesdays through Fridays. About nine months ago, he also added a Southern-inspired dinner menu that was served Tuesday through Saturday evenings.

Now, though, Wade is retooling.

The first change, he said, is that he’s expanding brunch service. He’s created a brunch menu that is being served from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. Wade instituted the new menu (which can be seen below) and restaurant hours about three weeks ago.

At the same time, Wade said, he ended his weeknight dinner service, which was not drawing the crowds he’d hoped for. Instead, he and his new Magnolia Cafe chef will open the restaurant for dinner from 5 to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Instead of a full menu, those dinners will offer prix fixe (fixed price) “chef’s seasonal menus” that will cost from between $35 and $40 a person and will change every week, offering diners “elevated food with some Southern influences,” Wade said. Each meal will offer a shared appetizer, choice of soup or salad, choice of entree and a dessert.

The first dinner will happen this weekend, and though Wade and chef Jose Alejandro Martinez are still working out the first week’s menu, they’ve kicked around entree ideas like a brined Berkshire pork chop with roasted apple and pickle seed relish and shaved Brussels sprouts.

“It’ll be really refined comfort food,” he said. “And it’s a great value at $35 a person. If that won’t get you in the door, I don’t know what will.”

Wade said he made the daytime change after noticing that his weekend brunches were always busy but that weekday lunch crowds were up and down. The brunch menu is a customer favorite, so he decided to offer it exclusively during the daytime.

He also said he could never seem to get consistent business for weeknight dinners — a side effect of too many restaurants in the area, he thinks.

The seasonal chef menus, he predicts, will keep people curious since they’ll change from week to week, and they’ll offer people a chance to have a high-end dinner experience at a reasonable price.

“We’ll be able to do different things every week and will not be bound to what’s on the menu,” he said. “Each week, we’ll be able to do things that excite people. They’re going to follow us and say, ‘What’s on the menu this week?’”

Wade, who also owns Italian restaurant Napoli at 7718 E. 37th St. North, named his second restaurant Magnolia Cafe as a tribute to the popular Cajun restaurant of the same name that operated at Central and Woodlawn from 1986 until 1994. Wade’s late father, Lonnie, was a big fan of Magnolia Cafe and would always tell his chef son that he should revive the place.

Wade will accept walk-in customers for the weekend chef’s menu dinners but recommends people make reservations by calling 316-260-1356.

Magnolia Cafe brunch menu

This is the new brunch menu that will be served from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays at Magnolia Cafe, 2424 N. Woodlawn