Two vacant Wichita restaurant buildings to reopen next week as two new pizza restaurants

Wichita will get two more options for pizza when two new businesses open next week.

One is a family-friendly pizzeria filled with arcade games and designed to entertain both kids and parents.

The other is a new project by the owner of a longtime favorite west-side restaurant.

Here’s what to know about each of the businesses:

Tutors Pizza

David Thompson — the restaurant entrepreneur who has taken over the former Tight Ends/Clutch House space at the corner of Seneca and Kellogg — is ready to open the first of several planned Tutors Pizza restaurants in the space. The signs just went up on the building, and he’s planning to open on Monday.

The restaurant is trying to draw the exact opposite crowd as the building’s previous tenants: Thompson wants to attract parents and kids who want to dine and spend family time together. The space is now full of arcade games kids will enjoy, like Skee-Ball, arcade hoops basketball, and claw machines full of stuffed animals. The restaurant also has a special play area for toddlers and an outdoor patio that will include corn hole.

Tutors will sell pizza made three ways: New York slices, square-shaped Detroit style and Chicago deep dish. The menu also will include burgers, wings, subs and pastas. It offers ice cream with toppings for the kids and beer, wine and mixed drinks for adults.

People will order their food at the counter, and it will be served in disposable containers. Those in a hurry can grab ready-made slices at the counter, or if they want to take their time, they can order from the menu.

The television sets used by Clutch House are still in the space and will play either sporting events or cartoons, Thompson said. Thursday nights will be movie nights, when family-friendly films will be played on all the screens. Tutors will also have game night on Mondays, when families can bring in their own games or check out one of the restaurant’s. Thompson’s eventual goal is to also offer tutoring for kids in the restaurant.

Thompson, who previously owned Brooklyn Boyz Pizzeria restaurants in Salina, Manhattan and Topeka, has several more Tutors restaurants planned for the area. A smaller version will open in the former Knolla’s spot at 13th and West by the end of the month. Thompson also has taken over an adjoining space in the strip center and will have a small dining area.

Next up, he’ll open a Tutors in Hutchinson and then plans one at 946 S. Rock Road, which he says should be open in the first week of October. He’s also eyeing locations in Goddard.

And those aren’t the only businesses Thompson is working on. He’s signed leases for two more spaces in the strip center at Kellogg and Seneca, where in the coming months he’s planning to open a kids’ haircut business called Toon Clips as well as a 24-hour laundromat.

Thompson, who will be assisted in the kitchen by his brother Edwin Castrillo, said he’s been nervously anticipating the opening of his first Wichita flagship restaurant and is excited to see how the city responds. He knows it will take some time to make Wichita understand that the new business operating in the space at Kellogg and Seneca is not like its predecessors and is a place that families can enjoy together.

The food will speak for itself, he said.

“Our food is phenomenal,” he said. “Everywhere we’ve opened, people have always raved about our food. I’m not worried about the food. I know that’s going to go over well.”

Maple Street Pizza

Twelve owner Bryce Kuhn is almost ready to open his new Maple Street Pizza Company in the former Kanai/Lilikoi Asian Bistro space at 12111 W. Maple. He’s set Monday, Aug. 22, as opening day.

Kuhn and his wife, Toi — who have run Twelve Restaurant & Bar in the same strip center at 119th and Maple for nine years — have always had pizza nights at home and said that when they were ready to expand, they liked the idea of doing so in a space close to their original restaurant.

The restaurant will seat 45 to 50 people and will offer a full bar that includes sangria and wine on tap plus local and regional craft beer and craft cocktails. It will be open for both lunch and dinner, but during its first few weeks of business, it will be open for dinner only from 4-9 p.m. daily.

The menu includes appetizers like marinated ricotta and olives, several salad options, and a long list of pizzas. Customers can choose from simple pizzas like a margherita cheese or a pepperoni or from more complex pies like a clam and bacon or the “Truffle Shuffle,” which is topped with truffle oil and mushrooms.

Maple Street Pizza Company’s pizzas will be made on a dough that’s fermented for 72 hours and results in a crust that has a “crispy, almost New York-style” bottom layer and a glossy “bone,” or edge crust, Bryce Kuhn said. Customers also will be able to get gluten-free pizzas and vegetarian options.