As Kansas City’s heat and humidity reaches its summer peak, River Market’s Enzo Bistro & Wine Bar has just the cure: a limoncello slushie.
This frozen cocktail starts with the Mediterranean restaurant’s house-made limoncello (traditionally a post-dinner beverage served chilled in a small glass), blended with lemonade and vodka. It’s the same citrusy digestif you can find on the menu at Enzo’s sister restaurant, Ragazza Food & Wine (4301 Main St., KCMO), both owned and operated by siblings Laura and Grant Norris.
“We’ve been making our limoncello in house for about 13 years,” Grant says. “We started making this exact recipe at Ragazza and it’s carried on here to Enzo as well.”
Although the Norrises keep the recipe close to the vest, limoncello is traditionally made by steeping lemon peels in a high-proof spirit until the citrus oils are extracted. A rather lengthy process, only a handful of other restaurants in the metro make this liqueur in house. I’ve never visited the Amalfi Coast, but Enzo’s version certainly surpasses any I’ve sipped locally (and unlike most mass-produced bottles, it isn’t dyed highlighter yellow). “It took a while to perfect,” Grant says. “We keep it in the family.”
When the Norris family opened Enzo Bistro & Wine Bar in 2022, following a decade of business at Midtown Italian eatery Ragazza, they were excited to have a larger space adjacent to City Market. Grant says that meant more room for more “toys.” “The slushie machine, the pizza oven—those were the things we were most excited about,” he says.
After a jaunt around City Market, cool off at the bar with this frosty, tart concoction and pair it with a wood-fired flatbread or North Mediterranean specialities like seared branzino, moussaka and lamb keftedes. On KC Current or Chiefs game days, don’t be surprised if your drink arrives tinted teal or red.
GO: Enzo’s Bistro & Wine Bar (20 E. Fifth St., KCMO), enzokcmo.com.
