This Sunday, September 24 from 12-4pm, Douglas will be shut down from College Hill to Delano.

Why? Well there's a big block party called Open Streets ICT taking place to promote healthy living. You will be able to bike, walk, dance, yoga and more without the worry of cars driving up and down the street.

The entire event is free and is put on by Wichita Park & Recreation. If you've never heard of Open Streets before, it's a popular block party taking place all over the United States. The intention is to get people up and out of the house.

And if you're hungry? Fear not, many food trucks will be on hand throughout the event.

Please note that Douglas will be closed at 10:30am to 5:30pm between Roosevelt and Douglas all the way west to Glenn and Douglas.

For more information check out their website: http://www.openstreetsict.com/

Nearly every small city has that one restaurant that people just flock to. Burrton, KS just happens to be one of those and their restaurant of choice is The Barn. It's time to knock out another restaurant review as we leave Wichita to make our way down Highway 50 towards the tiny town of Burrton.


===============
307 Dean St.
Burrton, KS 67020
620-463-8056

Monday - Thursday: 11am - 9pm
Friday - Saturday: 6am - 10am, 11am - 9pm
Sunday: 6am - 10am, 11am - 2pm

Facebook
Menu available here

Cash/Card Accepted

===============

Located right off of Highway 50 in Burrton, KS, you'll find what looks like a farm-style barn but inside it gets even better.




The allure of The Barn is their hearty home-cooked, feel good food. Travelers come from all directions and pack The Barn up. I spoke with their head chef and in less than two years since they opened, they have served over 39,000 chicken fried steaks. With that many served, it made sense to make the drive out to Burrton to see what the fuss was all about.

For $13.99, you get The Barn's famous chicken fried steak that's hand breaded, deep fried and smothered with cream gravy.

Placed by a spoon for comparison

Needless to say the chicken fried steak was massive and like a meal for a family of ten.....OK, maybe two or three. I ordered it with mashed potatoes and green beans. My stomach wasn't prepared for the amount of food that was coming its way.

My first bite was the cream gravy and it did not disappoint at all. If I could get doctor's approval, I would just order it as a drink. The sides were wonderful as well. The roll came with a side of cinnamon butter which put any other butter to shame. My brother and sister-in-law gave some of it a try and loved it as well.

Now how about that chicken fried steak? I've heard all sorts of reviews on it but had to try it out for myself to see. Simply put, there's a reason why they've sold 39,000+ chicken fried steaks. It was excellent. The breading was light, crisp and flavorful. The gravy was like the cherry on top. While chicken fried steak usually isn't my first item to order on menus at restaurant, I would order this again.

Now if chicken fried steaks aren't your thing there's plenty of other items like burgers, steaks, salads and breakfast food to fill you up.

I read reports of horrible customer service and long wait times and on my visit that was not that case at all. My server was attentive, quick and extremely friendly. It did not take long at all to get my food either and this was on a weekend afternoon when the place was packed.

The visit to The Barn was exception and turned out to be not just a gimmick tourist visit on Highway 50 but a worthy restaurant of everybody's time.

Two thumbs up from Wichita By E.B.

Happy Dining,
Eddy




======================================

To nominate your restaurant or event to be considered for a review, please E-mail us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.  

Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
Instagram | Facebook, | Twitter | Pinterest

Readers,
I try not ask many favors from all of you aside from the occasional click and read what nutty things I have to say but I'd like to utilize this blog to address something that hits close to home.

The picture above is a good friend of mine and one of the most selfless, nicest and down to earth people you will ever meet. His name is Tim Charboneau, pictured with his adorable family. I first met Tim my freshman year in college at Wichita State University. We both joined the same fraternity. He was this skinny kid from Lebo, KS who was new to the "big city" (compared to Lebo, KS, Wichita is like NYC). My first memory of Tim was at a party and he was out there doing the splits on the dance floor and giving his Yoda impressions to impress the ladies. While it didn't quite impress the ladies, it certainly impressed my friends and I who quickly gravitated towards his carefree attitude. We made it instant connection and would spend the rest of college drinking beers on the patio, skipping class to play Super Smash Brothers and play sand volleyball until 4 in the morning. He was also my teammate in intramural basketball when we represented Wichita State at regionals and lost to the Kansas State Basketball practice squad 148-62......in a forty minute game. Our basketball game didn't impress the ladies either.

He was always the one guy who everybody loved and never had an enemy in the world. That is until September 5th. Tim had surgery to remove a 3 1/2'' tumor from his head. That enemy turned out to be Gliobastoma Multiforme (a.k.a. G.B.M.), Stage 4 which is a rare form of brain cancer that is incurable. It effects 3 in 100,000 people a year. Without treatment, the survival rate is 3-5 months. With treatment, the most common length of survival following diagnosis is 12 to 15 months, with fewer than 3% to 5% of people surviving longer than five years.

Years later Tim would finally impress a special girl he met in college who would beome his wife. Through that marriage, they now have three beautiful children ages 11, 6 and a recent addition, a son who is 5 months old. We want Tim to keep moving forward and fight this cancer for as long as he can to be there for his family. Even with this bad news, Tim still approaches this day as if nothing happened. His carefree attitude continues to stay strong.

On Thursday, October 19th, we will be putting on a charity dining event at the Il Vicino located at Bradley Fair and College Hill. From 11 a.m. - 10 p.m. if you bring in the attached flyer below, 20% of your purchase will go back to fund the Here For Tim fundraiser. All you have to do is print out the below flyer or show them the below image to your cashier when ordering your food. That's it! This is available at both Wichita locations all day long. Their sandwiches, pizza and pastas are all wonderful. You will leave a happy diner.

It's our goal to get as many people out there to enjoy some great food and help support an even greater man.  Please share this with everybody you know. And if you're a Wichita State supporter, you should totally go. Tim also spent some time as WuShock at games, yes he's a former mascot!

I also want to send a major thanks to Il Vicino who was totally gracious and willing to participate in this cause.  If you can't make the event, here's a GoFundMe that was set up for him.

Happy Dining and Thank You,
Eddy

ICT Pizza Fest is officially coming

The same group that brought you Wichita Taco Fest is back at it again on Saturday, November 4. They promise to improve on the mistakes from Taco Fest and bring the city of Wichita a wonderful food event. It's ICT Pizza Fest.

All the information for the event can be found at ictpizzafest.com.

Here's the reader's digest version:
Saturday, November 4, 2017 from Noon - 5pm
The event will be held at 4004 N. Webb Road (WATC Campus)

You can taste slices of pizza for a dollar.

There will be a live DJ, beer and wine garden, dough tossin' showcase, plane tours, game section, raffles, giveaways and more.

Tickets are $10. You can get a family and friends bundle for $25; this includes admission for three people. There's a VIP ticket for $50 with more information on that coming at a later date.

If you purchase your ticket ahead of time, you are entitled to one free slice of pizza.

Unlike Taco Fest, they are now limiting tickets to the first 3,000. A percentage of the proceeds will also go to support the Wichita State Alumni Association. You can purchase your tickets at ictpizzafest.com.

No word yet on what pizza vendors will be out but I'm sure that info will be out soon enough.

Will we be attending this year's ICT Pizza Fest given what happened at Wichita Taco Fest? Sure, why not? We're all about second chances and try to support any event that gives Wichita more to do. We have it on our calendars and encourage everybody to do the same too.

We will post more on the event as the information becomes available.

Happy Dining,
Eddy

======================================

To nominate your restaurant to be considered for a review, please E-mail us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.  

Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
Instagram | Facebook, | Twitter | Pinterest

Up next for Crockpot Sundays is a recipe I received from my friend Nicole. This one required just three ingredients.

I wish mine looked as good

Here's the actual recipe if you want a cleaner version of it.

Ingredients
1 lb boneless pork chops
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 pkg Ranch Dressing Mix
water (one half to a full soup can of water, depending on how thin you like the sauce)

In a small bowl, you combine the water, ranch dressing mix, and cream of chicken (or mushroom) soup.

Pour some of that mixture in your crockpot.

Place the pork chops in the crockpot.

Place the rest of the mixture on top.

Set it (on low for four hours) and forget it.

Once you're done, you can place the pork chops over the mashed potatoes and lunch is served.

This was one of the easiest crockpot recipes I was given. Easy is right up my alley. The end result wasn't as pretty as what the pictures should look like but it was great comfort food on a Sunday while I watched my Cowboys get blown out by the Broncos.

I don't have any set recipes yet for next Sunday.I'm always open to any recipe you have as long as they require little effort or work; I'm the laziest cooker ever. You can leave them in the comments, post them on social media or e-mail them to wichitabyeb@gmail.com.

Happy Dining,
Eddy

======================================

To nominate your restaurant or event to be considered for a review, please E-mail us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.  

Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
Instagram | Facebook, | Twitter | Pinterest

If you love spicy foods, do yourself a favor and keep on reading.


I had touched upon Campbell Gardens Candied Jalapenos in a previous blog about the fair but these Kansas-based treats are deserving of their own write-up.

I was introduced to these candied jalapenos by my brother and sister-in-law while attending the Kansas State Fair. Campbell Gardens had a booth set up with free samples. Anything free to eat was a sure way to draw my attention.



They had three different items on display, candied jalapenos, candied habaneros and candied ghost peppers. I tried them all and fell instantly in love. Each of the candied pepeprs tasted sweet going in but the heat really picked up afterwards.

My brother told me he and his wife had already purchased some jars and I couldn't be left out of the fun. I bought the candied habaneros and the special limited jar with the candied ghost peppers.

Inside the jar

At the fair, Campbell Gardens served their candied peppers on chips with cream cheese. When I brought them to work for co-workers to try out, anybody who tried them loved them. They were an instant hit. Keep in mind, they were served as is with nothing else. People who braved it noticed the perfect combination of sweet and spicy. Once you ate one pepper, you couldn't stop. We all just kept going and going until our taste buds went numb. It was truly spicy, delicious and addicting.

On another visit to the fair, I would buy another jar as would my brother. Then my cousin got in on the fun and purchased a jar as well. Nearly everybody I saw sample the jalapenos we hooked.

If you can't make it to the fair to by a jar, I have some good news for you. You can buy them at their website: http://www.campbellgardenspeppers.com/. If you're all about instant gratification, I have more good news for you. They are available at the Ace Hardware stores in Wichita. Here's a complete list of where you can buy the candied peppers: http://www.campbellgardenspeppers.com/locations/

These jars of peppers are also very versatile. There's a cookbook available that shows everything you can make with them. Everything from deviled eggs to salsa to sausage wraps to breakfast casserole to Mexican Soup to whatever you heart desires. The options are endless. Campbell Garden's website has a little recipe section as well if you don't want to buy the cookbook. .


While buying these jars, we were lucky to meet the family who owned Campbell Gardens. They are some of the friendliest people you'll ever meet. Based out of Centerville, KS, I couldn't help but want to get the word out more on Campbell Gardens after meeting them.

Do yourself a huge favor and snag one of these jars for yourself. Jars run $9 and are more than worth it. I'm not sure if my fridge will ever be lacking a jar of candied jalapenos anymore.

Be sure to also like them on Facebook for more from Campbell Gardens.

Happy Dining,
Eddy

======================================

To nominate your restaurant to be considered for a review, please E-mail us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.  

Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
Instagram | Facebook, | Twitter | Pinterest

Last year we did a review on Little Lion Ice Cream's ice cream which we found delicious. After following their social media pages, we noticed they were serving breakfast items. It looks as though Little Lion Ice Cream also found a permanent location to serve their delicious treats and that calls for a review.



============
120 E 121 St N (located at the Petit Cafe inside Espresso to Go at The Lux)
Wichita, KS 67202

Monday - Friday: 6:30am - 3pm
Saturday: 8am - 12pm
Sunday: 9am - 1pm

Facebook
Website

Cash/Card Accepted
=============

Be sure to go to the Espresso to Go at 1st and Market. I originally made the stop on Douglas and found myself to be at the wrong one.

Here's the menu at Little Lion Ice Cream:



The menu doesn't have the prices listed. From what I recall, the breakfast burritos were roughly $7 with meat or $6.50 with no meat. Waffles ranged anywhere from $9 to $12 depending on what you ordered.

This was an impromptu visit to Little Lion Ice Cream so I decided to pig out since I wasn't sure if I would be returning anytime soon. I went with the breakfast burrito with meat and the waffle parfait. Both items rang up at $16.50 and didn't take too long to arrive.


The waffle parfait was delicious. The waffle itself that had a nice crispy texture to it but still soft enough that was plastic fork would be able to cut right through it. The one drawback was the little amount of yogurt on top. After seeing pictures of their waffles with huge scoops of ice cream, I was expecting a little more on there.



Next up was the breakfast burrito. For seven dollars, I found the burrito to be rather small in size. For that much money at other restaurants, you can get large burritos that are almost like meals for two. Regardless, I was open to paying that much if the taste blew me away. Unfortunately, it didn't. The potatoes outnumbered any other ingredient inside the burrito which made it a little dryer. There wasn't much in the way of eggs which are extremely important to any breakfast burrito. While the salsa helped out, I would have been happier had there been a better ratio of potatoes to eggs and meat.

Given my fantastic experience at Little Lion Ice Cream with my nieces, I would have to say this go around was more disappointing than anything.

Was your experience any different? We would love to hear back from you in the comments.

Happy Dining,
Eddy



======================================

To nominate your restaurant to be considered for a review, please E-mail us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.  

Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
Instagram | Facebook, | Twitter | Pinterest

On September 12th, Chipotle did was people think would never be done: add queso without E. coli to their menu.

Queso has been a requested item from customers for years and Chipotle finally caved in. Caved in is probably not the best word to be used right now given their incident with a ceiling caving in and rats falling onto customers and to the ground.

Aside from all the jokes because Chipotle has certainly taken a public relations beating over the years, I don't mind Chipotle. I still eat it after all their issues as do millions of other customers.

When word went out queso was being added, I made sure my co-workers and I get in on the reviews of it. We've been reading all the news outlets post their thoughts and wanted to get ours in.

One thing to note about Chipotle's queso is it's all natural. There are no additives in it. You can take a look at their ingredients here.

For prices:
Queso on your burrito is $1.25
4oz queso on the side is $2.05
4oz queso and chips is $3.45
Large queso (8oz) and chips is $5.25

We opted for the standard size queso but didn't realize how small it was from ordering it online.

This is what $4.10 will get you (minus the two quarters)

We decided to show what the 4oz of queso looked like by a quarter. It really wasn't much.

The more important part was how did it taste?

I had over a dozen people try the queso (yes, those 8oz went around sparingly).

The reviews were extremely mixed and all across the board. The first set of people who tried it described it as gritty, lacking the proper texture of queso, lacking salt, not spicy enough, bland or "This just flat out sucks". Blah was the most commonly used word for the first group.

Later on, another co-worker randomly walked by, tried it and said she loved it. It was a stark difference from what everybody in the first group said.

The second group said they liked it or it wasn't that bad. Their opinions were relatively more positive than the first group. Not a single person called it the best queso they've ever had but said it was certainly good and worth buying. One person in the second group flat out wouldn't even try it saying he gave up Chipotle a long time ago after all their issues.

Some friends would message me later saying it was some of the worst queso they've ever had. Others would say that queso wasn't meant to be all natural.....that's what makes it so good!

Chipotle's queso was certainly some of the most polarizing food we've ever had to review.

While most people were in agreement that their expectations for Chipotle were pretty high, nobody would call it the best queso they've ever had.

Overall, it was more misses than hits from the people who all sampled the new product from Chipotle.

One common opinion was that the price tag was too high for what you got. Had it been excellent, than maybe worth it. Maybe if they added E. coli it would have been even better? Who knows.

What do you think of Chipotle's new queso? Weigh in!

Happy Dining,
Eddy

======================================

To nominate your restaurant to be considered for a review, please E-mail us with your restaurant information. We are always open to suggestions.  

Check out more from Wichita By E.B. by visiting our social media sites:
Instagram | Facebook, | Twitter | Pinterest