photo by: Chad Lawhorn/Journal-World photo

The former Baan Thai restaurant at 741 and 739 Massachusetts St. is pictured on Nov. 4, 2021.

There’s no shortage of worries in the restaurant industry these days, but one longtime Wichita operator has crossed one worry off his list: He and his brother/business partner will achieve their goal of expanding into Lawrence.

“Restaurants aren’t just going to die,” Wichita restaurant owner Brad Steven told me. “Restaurants are what people love to do. They love to go out and eat and drink. We are confident that things are going to bounce back.”

And if things don’t bounce back? Well, wine makes everything better, and this brother duo has lots of wine, and they’ll be bringing it to Lawrence.

The pair plan to open Wine Dive + Kitchen in the former Baan Thai restaurant space at 739 and 741 Massachusetts St. in the spring. The establishment will be a wine bar, but one that really takes its food seriously too.

The restaurant plans to have 40 wines by the glass and about 350 bottles available. It will have a full dinner menu that goes far beyond the cheese, crackers and charcuterie trend that dominates some wine bar establishments.

“We’ll have a few sandwiches, but mostly we’ll be focusing on entrees, steaks, pasta, seafood,” Steven said.

The menu for the Lawrence establishment hasn’t been set, but Steven said it would be similar to what is offered at the Wine Bar + Kitchen in Manhattan, which opened in 2017. That entree menu includes a traditional beef tenderloin, scallops, duck breast and the French classic coq au vin, which is marinated and braised chicken thighs in red wine with aromatic vegetables and potatoes.

But the dish that caught my eye is a wild boar entree. It features a house-braised Texas wild boar in a tomato ragu with red and port wine served with pasta and baguette. Can I just say, I would like a bottle of whatever the guy had who decided he was going to shoot a wild boar for dinner.

Undoubtedly, some at Wine Dive could tell you what that bottle would be. The wines are a big deal at the establishment. Steven is a certified sommelier and takes pride in having wines from across the world. He said regions of France, Italy and California make up big parts of the wine collection, but it also will include wines from Spain, Australia, Lebanon and “cool regions” like South Africa.

“What we are kind of known for is a very large wine list,” he said of the company’s Wichita Wine Dive location, which has been open since 2010. “We want to continue that large concept here as well.”

Organically produced wines also will be a big part of the offerings. He said he recently was in France for a couple of weeks doing business with several wineries there. The majority of those wineries were moving to organic production. “Organic has really taken off,” he said.

As for the decision to expand into Lawrence, Steven said it had been on his and his brother’s mind for several years. Steven spent more than a year in college at the University of Kansas and has been back a lot since for KU basketball.

Steven and his brother, Brent Steven, are equal partners in their restaurant and bar business, which owns the two wine bars/restaurants — one in Manhattan and one in Wichita — plus The Hill, a bar and grill in the College Hill district of Wichita; Vora, a European-style restaurant in Wichita; and Industry Old Town, a nightclub and cocktail lounge in Wichita.

The pair had never found the right type of building in Lawrence until they recently went through the former Baan Thai space. They recently signed a deal to purchase the building, according to J. Taylor, local commercial real estate agent for Colliers.

“We think the city is kind of super vibrant and forward thinking, especially that area around Mass Street,” Steven said. “I think the city does a good job of trying to keep a lot of those chain restaurants away. We want to be part of the smaller restaurant scene.”

Steven said he and his brother were still finalizing several aspects of the project, including whether to serve brunch and lunch at the location. The Manhattan location does have a full brunch menu on the weekends.

Steven said he didn’t have a solid timeline for the Wine Dive + Kitchen to open. He hopes to open in the spring, but he said supply chain issues made it difficult to project. The project will include a significant remodel and will feature a design that takes advantage of the covered patio in the front of the building.

“We won’t be real aggressive about it,” he said of the timeline. “We won’t open until we have everything we need.”