Leasa Caron, the owner of Jovito’s Italian Café, is steeped in the lore of Our Town’s local food establishments. Her former in-laws, The Fiorellas, owned all the Smokestacks and Jack Stacks. She and her ex-husband, Dr. Russell Fiorella, briefly owned a Smokestack up north. When restaurateur Jo Marie Scaglia moved back to Kansas City from […]

Rick Mullins, executive chef at Café Sebastienne at Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, got into cooking by default “I was working in bars throughout my ‘20s, living close to the edge. I really didn’t start professionally until I was 31. By then, I was sober and more mature mentally. It was easier for me to […]

As the executive chef at Waldo Thai Place, Pam Liberda represents a new generation, a branch of a storied family tree that consists of her husband, Ted, and her mother-in-law, Ann. At one point, Ted, Pam, and Ann owned and oversaw eight Thai restaurants throughout the metropolitan area. Ann and Ted still have Thai Diner […]

To many of Our Town’s foodies and midtown residents, Calvin Davis is a hero. In June of 2017, a drunk driver, going 70 miles per hour, crashed into his well-received restaurant, Freshwater, located on Southwest Trafficway. The accident destroyed the window and collapsed the front corner of the building. “We were fortunate that no one […]

Food halls are red hot right now, providing a variety of cuisines for the most capricious of palates. (But don’t confuse them with food courts, with their sampling of fast food kiosks, found in shopping malls and airports.)  Food halls provide ethnic, artisanal, farm-to-table fare. Great Britain originally took the lead in this trend, with […]

Open since March, Tribe Street Kitchen has a funky, global feel, yet it’s also quite sophisticated. That is no coincidence. It showcases a large array of street food from around the world. The three owners, Wichita natives and childhood friends Sam Hagan, Ben VinZant and Jordan Mathes, are passionate, intrepid travelers and eaters, whether it’s […]

Probably one of my fondest memories of food from my childhood (my very own Proustian madeleine) is a lobster roll from one of those rustic roadside places in Maine. You place your order at the window and out comes perfection in a red and white checked paper basket: a toasted bun with just the right […]

When I walked into The Savoy at 21c’s bar area at the newly renovated 21c Museum Hotel Kansas City, I literally did a time travel back to my teens and twenties. My cousin, Richard Stern, and his partner, Gino Happy, used to hold court at the front table almost every night. With drinks and cigarettes […]

Before you even enter The Russell, Our Town’s fabulous lunch spot on Main Street, which opened in February, the smell of hickory wood and savory roasting food emanates from the Argentinian fire table, measuring 10 feet and weighing three and a half tons. Located in the heart of the kitchen, it was handcrafted by Co-owner […]

Many of us MOTs (Members Of the Tribe, for those of you who aren’t Jewish) have long mourned the closing of The New York Deli (of blessed memory), which was an iconic eatery at 70th and Troost. My mother always had me pick up loaves of rye bread she ordered by phone (thin sliced, of […]

The Restaurant at 1900 is a sleek, hip addition to Our Town’s culinary scene. It is located in the 1900 Building, a modernist architectural treasure, originally built in 1967 and recently transformed by Karbank Real Estate Company into an LEED Gold Certified high-end, mixed-use building, including offices, performance and event spaces and a gallery. The […]

Jonathan Justus, a James Beard nominated chef; has been cooking since he was four years old. “My sister, who is quite a bit older, actually caught me standing on a stool, cooking bacon and eggs, much to her surprise. I was doing it practically every morning while my mother was working on her doctorate in […]

I have to admit I am one of those people who try to go to as many local restaurants as possible. But Charleston’s, with 18 locations in Oklahoma, Nebraska, Indiana, Arizona, and Texas, may be the exception to that rule, just like the now-shuttered Houston’s on the Country Club Plaza (how I still long for […]

According to Clark Grant, proprietor and executive chef of Hogshead Kansas City; his edgy but elegant restaurant serves tough guy comfort food. It opened this last November in the former California Pizza Kitchen space on the Country Club Plaza (and the original location of the Gilbert-Robinson’s groovy ‘70s hangout, Houlihan’s Old Place). But even though […]

If you are an impassioned Francophile who just can’t cross the pond often enough, you can get your fill of savoureux cuisine at Westport Café and Bar. Intimate and cozy, it has accents of copper on the exposed brick walls, rustic pendant lamps, dark wood wainscoting, and a black and white checkerboard floor. It is […]

A slice of swingin’ London has fluttered and landed on the Country Club Plaza in the guise of The Monarch Cocktail Bar & Lounge. The place itself is luscious eye candy, designed by architect and designer David Manica, with a large glowing white bar in the middle, surrounded by high white stools and benches, with […]

Husband and wife co-owners and Chefs Megan and Colby Garrelts of Bluestem fame will be opening a second location of their hit restaurant, rye, on the Country Club Plaza on November 24th. Joy and Jeff Stehney of Joe’s Kansas City BBQ are helping launch this second location. The 7,000 square foot restaurant will have a […]

Corvino Supper Club & Tasting Room is a sleek, dazzling addition to Our Town’s burgeoning high-end culinary scene. It has a 110-seat main dining room, a glassed-in, semi-private back room and an intimate 18-seat tasting room, where diners can experience a menu of 12 small courses with wine pairings and a private view of the […]