Nearly six years ago, the Biggs family decided it was time to leave California, a move they had been considering for some time.
They chose Kansas because Shad Biggs’ brother is stationed at McConnell Air Force Base. When they departed, all they knew was that they planned to settle in a little town.
They discovered it in Garden Plain, a little village of slightly about 1,000 people located approximately 20 miles due west of Wichita. And now, just two years after opening a restaurant on Main Street, the Biggs are among the town’s most well-known residents.
Halagains, one of just two restaurants in Garden Plain, is located in a long-standing bar and grill facility at 501 N. Main. Over the years, the site has housed a variety of enterprises, most notably a bar and restaurant named The Other Place.
Since opening around New Year’s Day in 2023, Halagains has become the type of establishment that small towns normally value: a dependable restaurant with outstanding food where a sizable portion of the community can be found any night of the week.
People from adjacent communities such as Kingman, Hutchinson, Andale, and even Wichita learn about it and travel there.
Despite its Irish-sounding name, which was inspired by an internal joke between the owners and an old friend, Halagains delivers a diverse menu of pizzas, sandwiches, and “skillets,” which Shad and his wife, Stephanie, create by layering pizza ingredients upon a bed of seasoned potatoes.
The majority of the menu’s items are served on the wood-fire grill, which the Biggs erected three weeks before opening day.
The restaurant is well-known for its use of tri-tip, a popular cut of meat on the West Coast.
Halagains serves its soft tri-tip in a skillet with garlic, onions, bell peppers, and jack cheese, as well as on a few of its sandwiches, including the renowned Game Changer, which is topped with roasted onions and peppers, provolone cheese, bacon, house mustard, and jalapenos.
“It’s not really common around here,” Stephanie Biggs remarked of tri-tip, a triangular cut of bottom sirloin. “Nobody really knew much about it. But it’s really popular in California.”
The restaurant has the appearance and feel of a small-town bar: the long and slender dining area is partially taken up by a long bar lined with bucket-seat bar stools, which people use to chat and watch the game.
There is a lengthy row of booths across from the bar. In the back of the restaurant, there is a larger party room with arcade games. There is enough inside for around 110 people.
The dining room also incorporates small-town restaurant details, such as a drop ceiling interrupted by a cutout lined with old Kansas license plates. Swinging saloon doors divide the back of the bar from the kitchen.
A piano sits against the wall beside the bar, providing a resting place for salt and pepper shakers.
The Biggs manage the restaurant individually, with the assistance of their six children. Some of the younger family members occasionally deliver food to clients’ tables.
The oldest member of the tribe, 17-year-old Aaron, is the most involved, working alongside his parents to operate Halagains.
When the Biggs founded the restaurant, they decided to specialize in pizza, owing primarily to Aaron’s enthusiasm for the dish.
“We use his dough recipe that he’s been working on for years,” Stephanie Biggs explained. “It was something he was passionate about.”
Underdog no more
When the Biggs arrived in Kansas, they were unsure of where they wanted to settle. They lived in Wichita for the first year, earning money by growing vegetables and selling them from a “crop cart” parked at Hoover and MacArthur.
Soon after, they decided to sell Mexican cuisine as well. They converted the bed of an old Chevy truck into a food stand where they could serve tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and cheeseburgers. They planned to open The Underdog Street Food & Catering at 2847 S. Seneca, near the Harbor Freight.
Meanwhile, they located the house they were looking for—which happened to be in Garden Plain. They decided that was where they would dwell.
In March 2020, the Biggs purchased a food truck that had previously sold barbecue in Kansas City. They re-wrapped the gear and ran The Underdog out of it.
They would occasionally park in Wichita, but they primarily set up near Garden Plain, Cheney, and Conway Springs, as well as at tiny local events.
The Underdog established a following in the neighborhood.
Then, in 2021, a bright yellow pub named The Other Place, which was started by Ron Nett and later passed down to Troy and Janet Loehr, became up for sale.
The Biggs had been working with the proprietors for nearly a year, providing their own barbecue, Italian fare, Mexican food, and more at the pub, when they decided to purchase the establishment.
They chose to shift the focus of their brick-and-mortar restaurant from Mexican cuisine to pizzas and skillets. Halagains, which later had a more subtle paint job, was a hit right away, thanks in part to the town’s familiarity with the owners.
“It helped a lot with having the food truck before because people already knew that we liked to cook and what not,” according to Shad Biggs.
Halagains has had a successful first year, according to his family. It made even more friends during Lent, when it served a cuisine tailored to the town’s huge Catholic population. Every week, it served meatless meals such as homemade lobster ravioli, oysters on the half shell, and ceviche.
Halagains also provides off-menu specials throughout the year, which almost always sell out, according to Biggs. Dinners with handmade meatballs, brisket, pastrami, and fried chicken have been popular throughout town. Halagain’s infrequent steak nights are very popular.
The Biggs also have huge plans for their second year. In 2025, they intend to extend their hours and freshen up the menu to include some of the Mexican dishes that were popular when they had the food truck.
Stephanie Biggs said the family is pleased that it ended up in Garden Plain.
“Everyone has supported us very well and taken us in,” she told me. “We love it. It’s an awesome community. “We are not going anywhere.”
Halagain’s hours are 3 to 10 p.m. on Wednesdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Thursdays, 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. on Fridays, and 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. on Saturday. The kitchen often closes at 9 p.m.