New restaurant tenant taking over old DeFazio’s building: Its name is familiar to Wichita

The old DeFazio’s space at 21st and Amidon is about to get a new tenant, and Wichita is already familiar with its food.

Recently, a sign for Sam’s Southern Eatery went up on the space at 2706 N. Amidon that in late 2021 Pete DeFazio’s beloved Italian restaurant vacated after 39 years. Sam’s should be ready to go in the spot in the second week of January, said franchisee Emanuel Ashiedu, who also has Sam’s Southern Eatery restaurants in Hutchinson and in Salina.

It’ll be the restaurant chain’s second go-round in Wichita. In January 2020, different franchisees opened a Sam’s Southern Eatery in the space at 6600 W. Central that is most famous for being the longtime home of Marco’s Cantina. That Sam’s closed in April 2022, and the space is now home to a Mexican restaurant called Casa Mexicana.

Ashiedu, who works as a software engineer in Salina, said he was eager to expand the concept to a bigger market and liked the DeFazio’s space.

“It has history,” he said. “So we are going to just keep that history going.”

Sam’s Southern Eatery is a chain that originated in Shreveport, Louisiana, in 2008, and there are now about 40 Sam’s Southern Eatery restaurants, most in the southern United States. The restaurant is a full-service, sit-down place, and the menu includes things like catfish, shrimp, fried green tomatoes, fried pickles and Po’ Boy sandwiches. Customers also can get crab cakes, fish platters, chicken wings and fried oysters.

Ashiedu’s two other Sam’s restaurants are at 1221 W. Crawford in Salina and at 2223 N. Lorraine St. in Hutchinson.

It’s been two years since DeFazio closed his Italian restaurant, which earned legions of fans with its pizza, pasta and Italian salads dressed with pickled eggplant. At the time of the closing, DeFazio said he hoped to find someone to buy the business and reopen it using his recipes. That never happened, though many fans were still holding out hope.