Zoe’s Kitchen opening Friday

A taste of the Mediterranean is coming to Waterfront Plaza at the northwest corner of 13th and Webb Road this week.

Zoes Kitchen is opening in a new freestanding building in front of Whole Foods on Friday.

General manager Brandy List says recipes and ingredients “are derived from all 21 countries in the Mediterranean.”

“Even our herbs come in and are fresh cut, and you’ll kind of smell that when you come into the building,” List says. “The basil and dill and rosemary that we cut fresh every day to mix into those recipes.”

The fast-casual restaurant has sandwiches, pitas, salads, soup and kabobs among other things.

It will be open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily and have catering as well.

Don Piros of Landmark Commercial Real Estate handled the deal for the Zoes space.

A Mediterranean native named Zoe Cassimus opened the first Zoes Kitchen.

“A lot of these are her original (recipes),” List says.

“Zoes actually means ‘life’ in Greek, so we have a ‘delivering goodness’ motto, and with our food, we believe … that that can start on the inside.”

The Waterfront Zoes makes No. 240 for the Plano, Texas-based company.

“We’re hoping to have some more here,” List says.

The company’s plan is to have 400 Zoes Kitchens by 2020.

List says she’d like to see a west-side Zoes along with other areas in and around Wichita.

“I think Derby would be a good candidate for it for sure,” she says. “I can’t promise those, but we’re hoping.”

How quickly those may happen depends on how the first Zoes is received, List says.

“I think Wichita’s going to love it.”