March 22, 2023

Watecha Bowl has expanded and now offers seating inside.

The Native American restaurant, which started as a food truck and celebrated its third anniversary this week, took over adjacent vacant space in the retail center at 2305 W. Madison St.

“We’re only a third of the way through the remodel, but people are using it. It’s functional,” said Lawrence West, who owns the business with his wife, Sophie.

Last month, they opened the wall between the two storefronts, painted the new half in traditional medicine wheel colors of black, red, yellow and white and started setting up tables.

“People wouldn’t stop going in there to eat,” West said, so he decided to let them. He’s still planning to install more TVs and a few booths. For now, the restaurant has seating for 42 at tables.

West said he’s also going to finish remodeling the original side of the restaurant, which couldn’t offer seating inside because it didn’t have accessible restrooms. That space will have 15 seats at a counter.

He painted a mural on one wall in the original space with #MMIW, a movement to raise awareness of missing and murdered indigenous women. He envisions expanding it to cover more of the wall and possibly letting people write names on it.

In the dining room, 12 charcoal portraits line the wall. Four are chiefs, four are medicine men and four are women warriors.

“They’re our relatives,” he said. “People who come in here, some of them are direct descendants of these heroes to the people.”

In front of the restaurant, Watecha Bowl has offered patio seating when the weather is nice, and that also will expand. Eventually, there will be 65 seats on the patio, West said.

That’s perfect during tourism season because Watecha Bowl draws diners from all over the U.S. and internationally. In the past week, the Wests have had visitors from New York, London, Canada and Norway.

The exterior also will be updated to tie the two spaces together visually.

With the new year, Watecha Bowl has a new menu, which continues to feature its signature Indian tacos, buffalo burgers, fry bread and wojapi. Newer creations like a spicy chicken sandwich and the Barnyard Burger with egg and avocado now have a permanent spot on the menu.

The new dining room includes a salad bar, which West plans to open this weekend. It will have offerings such as homemade potato and macaroni salads, coleslaw and cucumber salad along with romaine lettuce and spinach, boiled eggs, croutons and other toppings.

West plans to make a soup for the salad bar Thursday through Saturday, with rotating offerings such as buffalo chili, ham and bean soup, and buffalo or beef stew.

The salad bar will cost $8.50 or $4.50 as an addition to a combo meal.

Hours are 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, noon to 6 p.m. Wednesday and noon to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday.