Fall restaurant and bar openings in Kansas City include a drive-thru coffee shop from Southern Oregon and a post-pandemic revival from Crossroads Hotel.
New Amsterdam
Kansas City is about to get just a little more stoked with the help of an Oregon import. Dutch Bros. Coffee is a chain of drive-thru coffee shops from sunny Southern Oregon. They’re famous for both sweet coffee drinks—an Irish cream breve called the Kicker is a favorite—and for the cheerful disposition of their “broistas,” who always seem to brighten your day.
The company has been profiled in Forbes for both its rapid expansion across the West (Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico were recently claimed by the Dutch) and unique company culture, which featured multiple broistas-turned-franchisees making six figures and claiming they’d work for the company for free.
Two new shops are coming to KC, one in Belton and the other at the Legends in KCK.
We asked the company whether they can bring the same level of stoked-ness to KC without having so many ski bums and surfers to hire and were told that all employees will get “hands-on training on the Dutch culture.”
“We’ve received a really warm welcome so far,” says Aaron Harris, vice president of development. “We can’t wait to open and meet all of our new neighbors.”
Riot’s Over
Westport’s concert venue and bar The Riot Room in Westport is officially closed. With no bands touring and no audience buying tickets or drinks during the pandemic, the live music venue suffered huge losses.
Riot Room co-owner Tim Gutschenritter confirmed the news to KCUR, stating that the landlord has leased the property to someone else, though no information about who will move into the space has been released yet.
Gutschenritter owned Riot Room for over a decade with his brother, Dallas. The brothers applied for small-business Covid-19 relief funds but didn’t receive their grant money. They also created a GoFundMe account during the pandemic to keep the Riot Room afloat but came short of their $50,000 goal.
No word yet on whether the brothers might reopen a new Riot Room elsewhere.
More Wichita
The completely unexpected invasion of Wichita restaurant concepts continues with a new Mediterranean grill that says it will have multiple locations in KC.
On the heels of Doo-Dah‘s own HomeGrown cafe, which brags of serving only items sourced within six hundred miles, now comes Meddys Mediterranean Eatery & Craft Bar (4105 W. 83rd St., Prairie Village).
“Kansas City is an extension of Wichita,” owner Alex Harb told the Star. “It is big and vibrant.” The first location is in the Corinth Quarter plaza, but Harb expects fifteen more to follow.
Church of Dior
In south Overland Park, a new restaurant told Feast magazine it’s serving “mostly fresh local ingredients.”
Cary Ricks, the owner of Dior (6995 W. 151st St, Overland Park) is a former firefighter who found it odd that people would go out to restaurants and purchase food he knows came frozen and prepackaged.
Dior took over the former Llywelyn’s Pub, a charming former church with soaring ceilings, and is making traditional fare like chicken wings, burgers and chicken flatbreads.
Ricks told Feast he is working with local companies for supplies—Dior’s eggs are even delivered by a farm in Leavenworth.
Italian Renaissance
After temporarily closing like many restaurants during the pandemic, Lazia is set to relight its candelabras and little pink neon sign on Friday, November 12.
The restaurant’s location, in a hotel, led to its slow return compared to most KC establishments and it’s among the last of highly expected returns from the pandemic.
The Italian restaurant on Central will offer traditional favorites like wood-fired Neapolitan pizza and seasonal house-made pasta, including ricotta cavatelli with braised lamb and mint, and agnolotti del plin, pasta filled with pork and roasted veal.
Chef Justin Kent, who has worked at some of the city’s best-known restaurants, including Classic Cup and The American, and Jordan Hayes, who formerly served as executive chef at J. Rieger & Co., have created a menu that updates traditional Italian dishes by offering special consideration for ingredients sourced from the heartland.
