A new restaurant tenant is taking over the former NuWay space in Normandie Center

When Yokohama Ramen Izakaya owner Jack Fukuda decided he was ready to open yet another Wichita restaurant, he started what turned out to be a lengthy search for just the right space.

He ended up finding it right next door.

Fukuda, who in 2019 opened Yokohama Ramen Izakaya in Normandie Center — the strip center at Central and Woodlawn that also has Red Bird and Il Primo — has signed a lease on the space just to the west of his current restaurant, where NuWay operated until it closed last year.

Inside, he plans to open a new concept called Gyoza Bar — Modern Japanese Eatery. The restaurant, which he hopes to have open by fall, will specialize in Japanese-style dumplings, also known as gyoza. Diners will be able to get several different types of dumplings at the restaurant, including potstickers, deep-fried dumplings and steamed dumplings. The potstickers will be homemade in the dining area so customers can watch, Fukuda said.

The restaurant’s menu also will offer small-plate appetizers “that people have never seen in Wichita” made with fresh fish and Japanese Wagyu beef imported from Japan, and it will also have new-style sashimi and Wagyu tartar, he said.

Diners also will be able to get udon noodle soups, stir-fry udon noodles, and Japanese curry rice dishes, which Fukuda said are the ultimate comfort food in Japan. The restaurant will also have a bar serving Fukuda’s own private-brand sake as well as sake and wine imported from Japan, which will be used to make cocktails.

Construction should start in the spring, he said. When finished, the restaurant will seat 80-90 people inside and also have a private dining room and a large patio.

Fukuda also is the owner of Yokohama Ramen Joint at 613 W. Douglas in Delano, which he opened in 2016. That tiny restaurant, which doubles as a boba shop called Mr. Lion Tea, was so popular that three years later, Fukuda decided to expand into Normandie Center with a larger, second restaurant that offered small-plate appetizers and ramen soup.

Yokohama Ramen Izakaya survived the pandemic, and business is strong, said Fukuda, who was the first restaurateur to open a ramen restaurant in Wichita.

Now that more ramen restaurants are popping up around town, Fukuda said, he wants to open a new restaurant that offers something completely different.

Fukuda said he likes Normandie Center and the work that new owners Brent and Kerrie DuPont have put into remodeling it since they purchased it in 2022. They’ve been modernizing the look of the center — built in 1965 — and searching for a new mix of local tenants.

Normandie now has an environment that is vibrant and flourishing, Fukuda said.

“I look forward to what lies ahead for Normandie and the businesses located in the center,” he said.

Evan LaRue of Street Commercial represented Fukuda in the deal.