Elderslie Farm launches outdoor dining season with brunch, patio evenings and baby goats
It’s a springtime tradition in Kansas: The weather warms up, and people start spending their Saturday mornings enjoying breakfast al fresco at Elderslie Farm — a popular family farm, blackberry bramble and restaurant operation in nearby Kechi.
The outdoor cafe, called Bramble Cafe, has been closed since fall at Elderslie Farm, 3501 E. 101st St. North, but this weekend, it will reopen. Through Memorial Day, it will operate from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays. After Memorial Day, it’ll be open 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays.
The cafe is set up on a large patio at the Elder family farm, 3501 E. 101st. St. North in Kechi, and diners can enjoy things like blackberry lemon scones, ham and cheese hand pies, biscuits and gravy, lemon ricotta pancakes and avocado toast. There’s also a lunch menu, available after 11 a.m., that lists a chicken salad wrap, a pork belly sandwich, pulled pork tacos and more.
Now in its 12th year, the cafe also serves coffee, tea, blackberry lemonade, mimosa, sangria and wine. And the Elders also now offer an extra incentive to visit: People dining at the Bramble Cafe are invited to visit the property’s nearby goat creamery and hang out with and pet baby goats.
This year, the Elders are bringing back a fun feature they last offered about five years ago. Starting tonight, people are invited every Thursday to enjoy a casual evening meal on the same patio where Bramble Cafe operates in the mornings. The patio will be open from 5 to 9 p.m., and diners can order from a special patio menu that includes shareable items like baked brie, charcuterie and tartines as well as dishes like sliders, pizza on a puffed pastry crust, pasta, and pulled pork tacos. Items from the bar also will be available.
All ages can enjoy the Thursday-night events, said co-owner and chef Katharine Elder, and no reservations are required.
Elderslie Farm also still offers its elegant weekend fine-dining service, which is available from 5 to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. That’s when the kitchen serves a prix fixe menu in its indoor venue, and the menu changes with the season, highlighting local meats and vegetables as well as cheeses made at the farm’s creamery. Reservations for the farm-to-table weekend dinners at Elderslie are required at eldersliefarm.com/restaurant/
Chef Elder and her husband, George, have over the past 12 years built a big dining business not only at the Elder family farm, where George grew up, but also around Wichita.
In addition to various dining options at the farm — including the goat creamery added in 2019 that also serves gelato — the couple has a pop-up shop at Bradley Fair called Everyday Elderslie. Until recently, they also ran the cafe at the Wichita Art Museum, which they called 1400 by Elderslie, but that partnership ended in January. Because it did, Katharine said, she is able to re-launch the Thursday-night patio hours this year, not only because her time has been freed up a bit but also because she was able to staff it with people who had been working at the museum cafe.
Another big attraction at the farm is its big and growing blackberry bramble, which every summer attracts you-pick crowds. It’s so popular, it’s next-to-impossible to get a reservation — and the availability of the big, juicy berries varies from year-to-year depending on the weather.
Things are looking good for this season’s crop, Katharine said, and they’re “optimistic” that it will be plentiful, especially because George added a second bramble last year. Picking should start around the second week of June, and people will be able to reserve spots on the Elderslie Farm website.
