Signs point to new southern chicken chain coming to northwest Lawrence; update on multiple restaurant, retail projects on south Iowa

I’m always curious how the outside world views Lawrence. At the moment, I’m pretty confident that a PR firm led by bovines is sending out signals that Lawrence’s top need is more chicken. Yes, I have news of another chicken restaurant coming to the city.

We’ve reported for a few months now that a new chicken restaurant is slated for the Bauer Farm development near Sixth and Wakarusa. That’s on top of the slate of chicken restaurants that are coming to south Iowa Street. Well, I still don’t have official confirmation on the identity of the new Bauer Farm restaurant, but a source with good knowledge of the situation has told me to keep an eye on a chain called Zaxby’s.

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Yes, the bovines are getting mighty creative because I’ve never heard of Zaxby’s. My friend Mr. Google tells me it is a chain of about 700 restaurants operating primarily in the southeastern U.S. But the chain has been moving northward, and it likes college towns. It opened its first store in Missouri in 2014, and it chose Columbia as its test market for the state. The company also is around college towns every day. It is based in Athens, Ga., which is home to the University of Georgia.

As for the food, it looks like there is a strong emphasis on chicken fingers and chicken wings, with multiple dipping sauces, according to the company’s website. The menu lists nine flavors for wings and fingers, ranging from a fairly standard Buffalo-style sauce to the restaurant’s signature hot sauce called Tongue Torch. In addition, the restaurant has five dipping sauces, including something called a Zax Sauce, which is described as both tangy and zesty, and a horseradish-based sauce called Zestable Dip.

Great minds think alike!

Posted by Zaxby's on Friday, February 12, 2016

In addition to wings and fingers, the menu also includes a variety of chicken salads, including Cobb, blue cheese and Caesar varieties. (They call all their salads Zalads because the restaurant got a good deal on Zs at the alphabet store.) The restaurant’s sides, though, are what’s causing me to make sure my cholesterol medicine closet has room for an extra shipment. In addition to the traditional fries and such, other sides — called Zappetizers, of course — include breaded and fried white cheddar bites with a marinara dipping sauce, fried spicy mushrooms and homemade tater chips.

Like I said, I don’t know much about the Zaxby’s chain, but when the restaurant came to Columbia, the Columbia Daily Tribune described it as being “to chicken what Chipotle is to Mexican, Five Guys is to burgers and Panera is to delis.” They described it as being a little pricier than traditional fast food but having a little better quality. The restaurant does tout that it makes each order at the time of purchase, rather than making it ahead of time and storing under heat lamps.

Of course, take all of this for what you think it is worth. I remind you I don’t have official confirmation yet from Zaxby’s about its Lawrence plans. But it does look like one to keep your zeyes on. (Sorry. I thought I’d better use a Z before they get all used up.)

In other news and notes from around town:

• Since I mentioned south Iowa Street earlier, this seems like as good a time as any to provide an update on new business construction along the corridor. We’ve reported on all this before, but I’ve gotten several questions recently about what is under construction where. So, here’s a brief roundup:

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• The building that is taking shape in front of Bigg’s BBQ and other establishments near 25th and Iowa streets is a Raising Cane’s restaurant. It is a chain restaurant that focuses on chicken fingers with a zesty sauce. Based on the progress being made on that building, I would think we’ll have that sauce coursing through our arteries by this summer.

• Just down the street at 26th and Iowa, construction work is underway on a Popeyes chicken restaurant, which will include a drive-thru. The restaurant is being built on the southern end of the shopping center that includes First Watch and other establishments. That entire shopping center, called Tower Plaza, is undergoing a redesign. Crews currently are putting a new facade on the shopping center, but businesses in the center remain open during construction.

• On the north end of that shopping center — closer to 25th and Iowa street — some preliminary work has begun on converting a former insurance office and barber shop building into a Pie Five restaurant, a chain that makes handmade pizzas in five minutes. The insurance office — Gary Petersen’s Shelter Insurance agency — has moved into space inside the Tower Plaza shopping center. The barber shop has closed, I believe.

• Inside the Tower Plaza shopping center, I believe remodeling work already has begun or soon will for the sandwich chain Which Wich. The chain features a variety of hot sub sandwiches. A sign is up at the site advertising that the restaurant is coming soon.

• Closer to 23rd and Iowa Street, look for work on a new Texas Roadhouse. As we previously have reported, the steakhouse chain Texas Roadhouse has filed plans to go into the space previously occupied by Saints Pub + Patio. Or, for those of you with longer memories, it is the spot where Old Chicago Pizza used to be. We reported on Texas Roadhouse all the way back in September, and work has not really begun, as near as I can tell. The plans call for a significant amount of construction there, so I will check in to see if all is still on track.

• Look for a new Planet Fitness to go into a portion of the space previously occupied by Discovery furniture near 25th and Iowa streets. As we reported in December, the fitness chain signed a deal to take about 22,000 square feet of space in the large retail building. That will occupy about half of the vacant space in the building. The development group, I hear, is getting strong interest from other users for the remaining space.