Connected to one of Old Town’s largest outdoor music venues and bars, you’ll find a popular New American style restaurant that serves an eclectic menu people have been raving about for years.
This restaurant works with many local vendors to keep all things local hoping to bring the freshest and finest ingredients to their dishes. If the picture didn’t give it away, we’re talking about the Public at the Brickyard.
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129 N. Rock Island St
Wichita, KS 67202
316-263-4044
Closed on Monday
Tuesday – Thursday: 11am – 11pm
Friday – Saturday: 11am – 1am
Sunday: 10am – 8pm
Cash/Card Accepted
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When you enter into the Brickyard, turn left, walk down a short hallway and you’re right inside Public. I stopped in with some friends and their family to finally get a full review of Public’s menu which you can find here. As you can see it includes dishes ranging from tacos to banh mi’s to pizzas to filets to chicken & waffles.
To start our dinner adventure, we went with three of their highly recommended appetizers:
House Pickles: house-made pickles, Yoder salami & horseradish cheese with toasted baguette
Buffalo Cauliflower: lightly fried cauliflower tossed in our wing sauce, served with celery & house bleu cheese dressing
Duck Plate: maple-bourbon cured duck breast, Kangrow Farms microgreens, smoked apple butter, Crust n’ Crumb walnut bread, Lovera gorgonzola, and pickled onions.
I was in love with the pickles. They had a nice little sweet taste to them. My friend’s kids devoured the Yoder salami in what felt like second. It was an excellent light appetizer to begin with. I’m not a cauliflower fan and was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. This was recommended to me by two friends who joined me. My friend Megan really loves the buffalo cauliflower and made sure we had that ordered. It matches the flavor as if you’re eating wings but obviously much lighter. The duck plate was probably the least liked of the three starters. While the smoked apple butter and microgreens were wonderful, the rest of the plate just felt a little underwhelming especially compared to the other two plates we had.
For dinner, the kids each had a kid’s pizza while I went with the Papa Bear’s Brisket Tacos and my friends split the filet.
My friends always order the filet at Public. It’s their “go to meal” so to speak. They mentioned it was always consistently good and cooked just the way they like it. The filet is served on top of a smoked new potato confit, maple Brussel sprout hash with almonds and dried fruit. It’s then topped with herb butter and flash-fried leeks. They said it’s the perfect complement to the filet.
My brisket tacos were delivered in two corn tortillas and topped with cheese, cilantro and chopped onions. Admittedly I wasn’t a big fan of the black beans n’ rice, the side was a little on the dry side. The brisket was very flavorful; I am just not sure if it was good enough to warrant an eleven dollar price tag. A part of me regretted not ordering the Banh Mi or Cuban instead.
To end the night, my friends ordered the jackfruit Crème brûlée to share with their kids. While the kids had no problems with it, the adults were very so so on it. We’ve had lots of Crème brûlée in our time and this just was an unusual flavor that didn’t match up well.
While some dishes were big hits and some others were misfires, there were two things that really stood out with the Public. The first was the ambiance. The atmosphere has that gastro pub feel; the vibe is very down to earth. While some dishes are pricier than other options around town, the quality is still good and more importantly local. My friends love the beer selection there and sometimes find themselves spending an afternoon there playing boardgames over some drinks.
Secondly, the service was excellent. There wasn’t one issue with it at all. Everything we needed was always taken care of. They were completely accommodating to the kids and offered free fruit bowls for them to start off with; refills were always to be had; and most of all, it was friendly.
Happy Dining,
Eddy
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