Local restaurant set to open with a menu that features everything from a classy hamburger to a chicken-fried hot dog

Those of us with a certain amount of cholesterol in our bloodstream know that a flat top isn’t just a haircut for people who don’t like combs. It also is the name for a large, seasoned hunk of metal where hamburgers, onions and other creations can be fried to perfection. A flat top grill will be at the center of Lawrence’s newest chef-inspired restaurant, Sully & Hank’s.

I have been telling you for awhile now that Brad Walters, chef and owner of the popular Italian restaurant The Basil Leaf, is opening a new restaurant called Sully & Hank’s in the former Presto gasoline station near Ninth and Louisiana streets. But Walters hadn’t provided any clues about what type of restaurant it would be. He has now, as the restaurant prepares to open next week.

“There will be lots of burgers, sausages, brats,” Walters said. “We will make a limited number of bierocks each day. It will be good, simple, Kansas food. It will be unique, though. It will have a big Brad Walters twist on it.”

If you are dubious about twists, eat this and then get back with me: a footlong chicken-fried hot dog, covered in sausage gravy, bacon, smoked cheddar and caramelized onions. Walters calls it the Home Wrecker.

If you want, you can finish it off with a dish that is kind of hard to find elsewhere: deep-fried pork belly with cracker jacks.

“We’ll have a whole menu full of twists,” Walters said.

But he’ll also have a menu full of some more recognizable dishes. Walters said a lot of the inspiration for the place comes from Kansas diners or bar food in central and western Kansas where Walters grew up. That means a good hamburger is expected to be one of the restaurant’s top offerings.

The Basil Leaf, which is basically next door to the new restaurant, has a lunch menu that features a lot of sandwiches. The hamburger — which includes a heavily seasoned patty, deep fried prosciutto, a tomato basil compote, a five cheese blend and brioche bun — is one of the top lunchtime sellers at the Italian restaurant. So too is a fish sandwich, a Sicilian steak melt, and several other sandwiches.

All those sandwiches will be moving over to Sully & Hank’s, which will be open for both lunch and dinner. The Basil Leaf, however, will stop serving lunch beginning Aug. 1. It will just focus on its dinner menu and also will serve as an extra prep kitchen for Sully & Hank’s.

Other creations that Walters plans to offer include a pig in a biscuit with a smoked tomato ranch sauce; a Guinness melt, which involves corned beef, rye and a demi-glace made from Guinness beer; sloppy joe sandwiches; smoked chicken salad sandwiches; peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made with French toast; some smoked salmon dishes; and several vegetarian and vegan dishes, including an eggplant Parmesan and salads.

Of course with items like pork belly — chili and jerked chicken wings also are on the menu — beer will be a part of the offerings. Walters said he plans to have about 50 varieties of canned beers that will be rotated through the restaurant’s drink menu, plus four draft beers that largely will be Kansas-based brews.

The former gas station spot has undergone an extensive remodeling. One thing that wasn’t removed, though, is the large canopy that covered the gas pumps. That canopy now covers an outdoor seating area that Walters thinks is one of the larger restaurant patios in town. It could become one of the more unusual ones too, if Walters follows through on one idea. Currently, the area has a large TV, but Walters said he is toying with the idea of eventually getting a large screen that would drop down from the canopy that could show movies or other events.

The fact that Walters is opening a restaurant — which, by the way, is named after his 3- and 5-year old sons — in a former gas station, is appropriate. The Basil Leaf Cafe got its start in the corner of an operating gas station more than seven years ago. People would go into the Phillips 66 station at 3300 W. Sixth St. and find a couple of tables in the corner and Walters and his crew cooking up pasta dishes in a tiny kitchen.

Now, Walters finds himself the owner of multiple restaurants. He told me he hasn’t quite processed all of that yet.

“Right now, I’m so tired and worn out that I haven’t had a chance to reflect much,” he said. “But it is going to hit me, and I’m going to realize how blessed I am. It is just hard work and finding good, dedicated people and a strong family to stand and work with you every day.”

Walters plans to open the restaurant on Tuesday.