When Jason ‘Ted Lasso’ Sudeikis comes home to KC, he eats this dish. I love it, too

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My boyfriend and I get along great, even though we don’t have much in common.

Leon searches for award-winning restaurants everywhere he goes, and I frequent fast-food chains. I could binge hours of reality dating shows, while he prefers sci-fi and horror.

But when we heard that the star of “Ted Lasso,” a show we actually both enjoy, had recommended a hometown restaurant, Taco Via, we knew we had to try it on Leon’s most recent trip from Los Angeles to Kansas City.

In 2021, Jason Sudeikis, the show’s star, executive producer and co-creator, professed his Taco Via love to the world. When the U.S. Men’s Nation Team came to town for Gold Cup matches, they asked the Ted Lasso Twitter account for dinner recommendations.

Ted tweeted back about barbecue, of course, but also about the Sancho — a flour tortilla stuffed with beef, shredded cheese, lettuce, tomatoes and taco sauce — at Taco Via, 8896 W. 95th St. in Overland Park.

“That was pretty amazing to just be mentioned on there,” said Quentin Heilman, the restaurant’s general manager. “Because this is a pretty local place. Only if you’ve been here would you know about it. All the advertising is word of mouth.”

Sudeikis visits the restaurant with his kids a few times a year, Heilman said. His last trip was about four months ago, around the time of his annual Thundergong fundraiser for Steps of Faith Foundation. He was difficult to recognize, sporting long hair, a mustache, a baseball cap and sunglasses. Sudeikis is kind to staff when he visits and always willing to take photos with anyone who asks, Heilman said.

Most of the time, Sudeikis orders the daily special, which includes a Sancho, a nacho, a hard-shell taco and a medium drink for $10.99. He also grabs some quarters to play pinball and arcade games at the back of the restaurant with his kids, Heilman said.

That’s also what Leon and I ordered when we visited the restaurant last week ahead of the Season Three premiere of “Ted Lasso.”

The nacho isn’t what you’d expect at all. It’s a large tostada covered in melted cheese and sweet taco sauce with a tinge of spice from the diced jalapeño peppers. (If you’re a Taco Bell lover, it’s like a fresher, smaller Mexican pizza — an item you can also find on the Taco Via menu.) And the taco is like the Sancho but with a hard shell.

At Taco Via, the taco sauce is the star of the show. Every other day, staff make around 30 gallons of the tomato-y blend that is sweet at first taste and has a slight kick. It’s common, Heilman said, for Taco Via lovers to buy a cup of the sauce and drink it like a shot.

We understood why. Every item we ate had a drizzle of the sauce, but Leon and I kept dunking our food to get more of the delicious flavor.

To cement ourselves in years of Taco Via tradition, we made a toast with our sauce cups, took a swig and ended our visit with some pinball and Ms. Pacman.

This was our first visit to Taco Via, but many fans like Heilman started eating there as a kid with their grandparents. (The first location opened in 1968.) As a teenager, Heilman asked over and over for a job until the restaurant’s manager hired him, and eventually he became manager once his former boss retired.

The restaurant, which sits up Antioch Road from Shawnee Mission West — Sudeikis’ alma mater — and not far from Shawnee Mission South, has also become a popular spot for high schoolers. Kids who grew up at Taco Via often apply to work there when they turn 14. At the Overland Park location, they can make $15 an hour. (There’s also a Lee’s Summit location and a food truck.)

In a lot of ways, Taco Via is similar to Taco Bell, another Sudeikis favorite. (He even did a taco skit on “Saturday Night Live.”) The meals are hearty, cheap and fast. But regulars rave about its fresh ingredients, tasty meals and good prices.

More than 5,500 people are part of the Facebook group “I Love the Taco Via!!!,” where Via Nation members share photos of their orders and stories of past visits. Some also like to post when they bring younger generations to try it.

And if it’s somewhere Leon and I can agree on, you can be almost certain everyone can find a favorite meal at Taco Via.

This story was originally published March 16, 2023 at 5:30 AM.

Andrea Klick

The Kansas City Star

Andrea Klick was a breaking news reporter for The Kansas City Star. She studied journalism and political science at the University of Southern California and grew up near Allentown, Pennsylvania.