The Emporia Gazette

February 14, 2012

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LAKE WABAUNSEE

“It’s (still) All ’Bout da Meat” at the new Bobby D’s Lakeside BBQ.

Bobby and Deb Doudican, owners and operators of Emporia’s Bobby D’s Merchant Street BBQ, opened a second restaurant early in May, this time at Lake Wabaunsee.

The owner of the ranch surrounding the restaurant, Bob Widau, provided much of the impetus for the couple to expand to the lake area.

“He’s been talking to me for over three years to do this,” Doudican said. “... We decided to go ahead and do this on a three-day operation and it has turned out fantastic for us.”

The couple remodeled a former convenience store adjacent to the lake and installed equipment identical to that in their Emporia location. The restaurant seats 60 people.

Customers routinely come from the lake, Alta Vista, Alma, Dover, Topeka and Emporia, Doudican said. Highway traffic also contributes to the full tables.

Doudican sees the location itself as a major draw for the restaurant, which sits above the lake along a designated Scenic Byway route.

“There’s some unmatched beauty in these Flint Hills,” Doudican said, looking out the restaurant’s front windows at the lake and hills below.

By 5:30 p.m. Saturday, the restaurant tables were almost full and a steady stream of customers was picking up bags of carry-out orders. The rush would come later, starting about 7:30 p.m, he said.

An expansion of sorts already is in the works.

“Although we seat a lot of people ... we find there are a lot of people waiting outside,” he said.

Two picnic tables currently sit outside, benches have been installed in front of the restaurant, and work has just begun on replacing existing gas pumps with a biergarten-type area for those who want to eat outside or wait to get in for service.

The basic lakeside menu is the same as Emporia’s. Steaks and a salad bar also are available at the lake, and a buffet lunch is served on Sundays. Smoked chicken is a staple on the buffet, as are cheesy potatoes, a trip through the salad bar and, usually, brisket and pork chops.

The restaurant also sells soft drinks and energy drinks, bottled water and beer to go from a convenience-store cooler. Draft and bottled beer, as well as “Booney Buckets” — various flavors of Boone’s Farm wines iced down in buckets — also are part of the beverage menu.

“We sell the beer to accompany the food, not the food to accompany the beer,” Doudican said.

And the food is plentiful.

“This week it will be probably about 80 slabs of ribs, 40 pounds of chicken,” he said. “We go through a lot of meat.”

That is in addition to about 45 pounds of prime rib, 30 to 60 steaks, and other meats on the menu.

“We’re cooking it on-site here,” he said. “I have identical equipment to what I have in Emporia.”

The Doudicans, who work at both restaurants, find themselves spending considerable time on the road between Emporia and the lake, and another restaurant may be in the offing.

“We are looking at one more, but it’s down the road a little bit,” he said. “We want to run what we have very well instead of spreading ourselves out.”

On Saturday, Doudican got up at 5 a.m. to be in Emporia by 7 a.m. and returned to the lake to set up for opening that afternoon. The couple has had a home at Lake Wabaunsee for about four years, providing a measure of convenience and an opportunity to mix work with pleasure. With their schedules, Doudican said that he and his wife sometimes pass each other on the highway as they drive to and from restaurants.

“Highway 99 knows me,” Doudican said.

The restaurant is open from 4 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sundays.