Crown Center’s new Unforked offers fast, fresh and healthy meals

Eight months — and a million-dollar-plus renovation later — Unforked has opened in the former Streetcar Named Desire space on the first floor of the Crown Center Shops.

Jim Sheridan, owner of the Sheridan’s Frozen Custard, founded Unforked with an Overland Park location in mid-2011.

The fast-casual Unforked offers fresh ingredients in its made-from-scratch-daily menu items that are served minutes after ordering.

Its crafted tacos come with a choice of whole wheat, white corn or flour tortillas, or crisp lettuce leaf wrap, and include the Southern Swag (fried egg, crispy carnitas, jack cheese, seasonal tomato pico and “white” barbecue sauce) and the Bada-Boom (with spiced black bean puree, applewood smoked bacon, avocado wedges and queso fresco).

It also has quesadillas, Akaushi and Black Angus burgers, entree salads, craft beers, wines, frozen margaritas, lavender lemonade, honey limeade, almond milk vitamin smoothies and more, including truffle fries.

Many of Unforked’s vendors are small local or regional companies — coffee from Thou Mayest Coffee Roasters, honey from Speckman Honey in Shawnee, bread from Farm to Market Bread Co., and summer tomatoes from Kurlbaum’s Heirloom Tomatoes in Kansas City, Kan., along with chicken from Gold’n Plump Family Farms in St. Cloud, Minn., and tilapia from Regal Springs in Miramar, Fla.

Streetcar Named Desire had operated in the 4,650-square-foot space for more than 31 years before closing in late 2015.

Sheridan originally planned a May or June opening in Crown Center. It took twice as long as planned.

“Streetcar had been there for 31 years and we totally gutted it down to the concrete,” Sheridan said. “We really wanted a mid-century modern decor, a light, more current, inviting feel that made you feel good when you were in it.”

This story was originally published November 23, 2016 at 5:40 PM with the headline "Crown Center’s new Unforked offers fast, fresh and healthy meals."