By James Bell
Hays Post
The Uptown Fox, 1202 Main St., has reopened, bringing with it something new to Hays while restoring the classic feel to the historic downtown building.
During the next two weekends, the establishment will be open for dinner reservations only, giving a taste of what is to come when the restaurant will open for regular hours later this month.
Reservations can be made directly on their Facebook page.
“We do an inspired menu,” said David Proffitt, owner. “We decided instead of trying to create a menu we just took all the best restaurants we had ever eaten at or ever heard of and we would bring them all into Hays.”
The menu will include recreations from notable restaurants from across the country, including a Philly Cheesesteak from Pat’s in Philadelphia and a Godfather sub from DiBella’s Subs in Rochester New York.
A Hofbräuhaus Pork Knuckle sandwich will also be served along with a selection of beer from the Munich, Germany, tourist spot.
“We’ll have that great German beer on tap,” Proffitt said.
The menu will continually change, bringing something new to repeat customers.
“You’ll be able to come here and have some of the best dishes and drinks from around the country, and we will be constantly be changing it,” he said.
Along with the re-creations, the restaurant will feature steak and seafood unique to the area.
“They are easily the greatest steaks you will ever have,” Proffitt said.
Fish served in the Fox will come from a market where the restaurant can look at what was caught and have them shipped in the next day.
“We will be able to bring in a lot of great fish dishes to the middle of Kansas,” he said.
But great food is only part of the appeal of the new location.
They offer memberships that include a personal locker with an included humidor, a $100 restaurant credit every month, first right to show tickets and access to the cigar and private lounge.
“We have a $50,000 in-house cigar inventory,” Proffitt said, along with extremely high-end liquors.
Service is also a part of Fox’s appeal.
“We want to provide a level of service that you would get a steak house in Chicago, Dallas or New York,” Proffitt said.
Proffitt said he plans to schedule acoustic musical sets in the location and hopes to bring in notable comedians.
While the old theater has been restored to its original look, the technology in the space is cutting edge, including integrated phone app door locks, new lighting and enhanced sound dampening.
The Fox also has the largest movie theater screen in Hays, Proffitt said, with access to first-run movies.
“We will be able to give some cool experiences,” he said. “That’s what it is really about.”
Restoration work to create the original look in an old building was a challenge, but important to Proffitt.
“We really wanted to keep that ’50’s vibe,” he said, calling the people that worked on the building “artists.”
Proffitt hopes this is just the first project that will help to establish downtown Hays as a regional destination.
“There is no reason Hays is not a shopping capital and restaurant capital of the area,” he said. “We have monster visions with what we want to do with downtown.”
“There is not any place to go nearby that can offer more than Hays can in such a safe, great community.”
If things go well Proffitt hopes the Fox will be a launching point to demonstrate the value of Hays to the area.
“It’s a place you can bring people from out of town and show them Hays can do it as well as anybody,” he said.
Following the limited dinner weekends, the Fox will be open for lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m and dinner from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. with hours extended until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays.
The bar will remain open throughout the day.