I love everything at this growing KC cafe and bakery. Here’s the dish I order the most
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Let’s Dish, Kansas City
Dig in: Our series showcases some of our favorite restaurant meals.
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I love life’s details.
Coffee in the morning. Lunch with an old friend. A cozy spot to read. Gooey cinnamon rolls, still hot from the oven.
McLain’s Market is all my favorite little things in one wood-paneled space.
I could rave, and have, about this pretty cafe with multiple locations — especially the one in Overland Park at 10695 Roe Ave., which has a sun room. (I like to sit on its pillow-stuffed bench by the garden box, flip open my laptop and type away. A big tree is planted just outside a window, its leaves bright orange as I write this.)
I knew I wanted to use this Let’s Dish installment as an opportunity to share my love for McLain’s, but what dish to choose? Maybe a breakfast bowl, a pastry or one of its sandwiches?
To be honest, I try something different almost every time and am never disappointed. But there is one meal I come back for between my new-menu-item ventures. The Market Wrap ($10.50) might be my most ordered McLain’s dish.
It’s vegetarian, said Mollie Lothman, owner of McLain’s. I am not. I do, however, love the Market Wrap’s sweet potato quinoa falafel covered in hummus.
Also stuffed in the tortilla: feta crumbles, tangy cucumber dressing, spring mix and tomatoes. It’s served with potato chips that are sliced and fried in-house.
“It’s hard to go out to eat and find a truly good option that’s vegetarian at a restaurant,” Lothman said. “We started with just wanting to have a sweet potato quinoa falafel, and we really love what we came up with.”
Fresh, filling, clean. No compromising my goal to eat healthy. Meat lovers should try McLain’s pepper jack burritos or bacon and sausage quiche.
But you can’t go to McLain’s without ordering a little something sweet. First-timers are offered a cupcookie — a mini almond sandy with a dollop of chocolate frosting. I recommend also trying one of their in-house doughnuts or a blueberry danish.
Customers special-order cakes and cookies for weddings, birthdays, etc., and McLain’s offers Chiefs-themed baked goods during football season.
Lothman held up a red-and-gold KC Wolf cupcake and listed the bakery’s busiest seasons: holidays and the Super Bowl.
“Anytime there’s parties or events like that, people come to McLain’s to get their stuff,” she said.
McLain’s opened in Waldo in 1945, and Lothman’s family took over the business in 2013. At the time, McLain’s was strictly a bakery. They’ve since expanded to Overland Park (my favorite location) and Shawnee at 5833 Nieman Road, broadening their menu to include breakfast and lunch. They also have a location in Lawrence at 2412 Iowa St.
A new favorite McLain’s could be on my horizon. Another location opened Monday at 15102 Travis St. in Overland Park. Yet another is coming to North Kansas City a little later at 1720 Swift St.
(Now I can’t stop laughing about how the two new restaurants accidentally pay homage to pop culture’s favorite couple. Swift and Travis streets. Get it?)
Lothman’s family also owns Sway Coffee Roasters, based in Kansas City, Kansas. That means McLain’s serves a full menu of specialty coffee — lattes, cold brew, drip.
The cold brew gives me a serious and sometimes needed caffeine surge. On days I’m more bright-eyed, I opt for an iced latte or chai.
Few things make me happier than finding an inspiring spot to sip a latte and write (or get lost in a book). Happy atmospheres are magic. Natural light plus background chatter plus the smell of coffee equals better stories for you.
Now that we’re on the subject, I think I’ll head there now. I have things to do, and I’d rather do them at McLain’s.
This story was originally published November 21, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
