People driving past the restaurant building at 2424 N. Maize Road that until October was the longtime home to Logan’s Roadhouse have noticed that something seems to be happening there.
That something is preparations for a restaurant called Sickies Garage Burgers & Brews, a concept based in North Dakota that specializes in “extreme burger creations” paired with craft beer.
Mitch Langston, the director of brand marketing for the restaurant chain, said that Sickies should be ready to open in January.
“Wichita is a very, very attractive market that fits our brand very well,” Langston said in a phone interview last week.
Sickies was started in Fargo, North Dakota, in 2012 by a group of guys that would get together to work on their motorcycles and cars. Eventually, they started making burgers at their meetings, with the members always one-upping each other with new levels of burger insanity, Langston said. The group adopted the term “sickie,” which is often used to describe a person who calls into sick work to hang out at a bar.
The menu, Langston said, features a “50/50” — 50 half-pound signature burgers paired with 50 different beers. And the burgers at Sickies are, in fact, rather insane.
Among the standouts: the Twin Cam, which is a burger topped with peppered bacon and nacho cheese that uses two grilled cheese sandwiches for buns. Customers also can get a macaroni and cheese burger and a “Hangover Burger,” which is served on a glazed doughnut bun. (Plenty of less-crazy burgers also are available, as are Kobe beef and veggie burgers.)
The restaurant also offers mashed potato bowls, mac and cheese bowls, wings, chicken sandwiches and a long list of appetizers, from fried pickles to nachos to fried cheese curds. Its list of entrees includes home-cooking favorites like meatloaf, chopped steak and hot beef sandwiches, and customers also can order malts and shakes — including boozy shakes for adults.
Sickies serves lunch specials and also has a happy hour and late-night menus.
The restaurants’ interiors, Langston said, are designed with retro garage-like touches like license plates and road signs hanging on the walls and tables decorated with gears and maps, Langston said.
The project and lease was handled by Brad Saville, founder and CEO of Landmark Commercial Real Estate Inc. Saville said he had been calling the out-of-state owner of the Logan’s building for three years to talk about possible replacement tenants should Logan’s ever close. When it did, the partnership bought the building and immediately had many interested potential tenants.
They decided on Sickies Garage, which Saville said is “a concept that is new and unique to Wichita. Sickies Garage has a fun atmosphere with great food. Awesome burgers and beers have a wide appeal.”
