Remember Stephenson’s Apple Farm? A grandson is bringing a taste of it back to KC
For decades, the long-gone Stephenson’s Old Apple Farm Restaurant was a beloved dining destination.
Now Thaddeus Stephenson wants to bring it back. Sort of.
Several readers wrote to The Star with fond memories of dining at the restaurant at U.S. Highway 40 and Lee’s Summit Road.
But to Thaddeus, it was the site of late-night lock-ins and games of ultimate hide-and-seek (which were sometimes scary, he added, recalling a few ghost tales). It was where he carried warm baked goods out to customers, shoveled sidewalks on snowy winter days and watered flowers with his mother in the summertime.
His lip trembled as he shared memories of the restaurant that his grandfather, Les Stephenson, started in 1946 with twin brother Loyd on their family orchard.
He did a little of everything there, including waiting on customers and delivering their checks: “I’ve been doing, ‘Sign here. This is your copy, this is mine,’ since I was a little tot,” Thaddeus said, sitting in a booth at Jasper’s Italian Restaurant, where he now works.
Now 38, Thaddeus recently pulled out two jars and set them on the table: apple butter from his new company, Stephenson’s of Kansas City.
He’s been canning the apple butter using Stephenson’s original recipe — once slathered on the restaurant’s rolls and apple fritters and sold in jars to take home. He hopes to have it on grocery store shelves this fall.
Thaddeus has been meeting with producers but can’t share details just yet. So, stay tuned: It’s coming.
And soon, he hopes to release a line of seasonings for such Stephenson’s favorites as corn relish, green rice casserole and brisket.
(That brisket seasoning is something “everybody wants to get their hands on,” Thaddeus said.)
And while there will always be a crowd begging him to reopen the Stephenson’s restaurant, Thaddeus said he’s content with having this small piece of his family’s legacy live on.
Opening a restaurant that would live up to the original would be “a monster,” he said. But this is a good compromise.
“Hopefully with this launch, the Stephenson’s name can be in people’s homes again,” he said.
Apple fritters and green rice casserole
Walter Cronkite, Harry Truman, Lady Bird Johnson and Jimmy Carter all dined within Stephenson’s rustic walls.
But the restaurant started small.
After Les and Lloyd returned from World War II, they decided to open a restaurant on their family orchard, near their parents’ house. The 40-seat cafe served a limited menu.
Over its 60-year history, the restaurant was renovated and expanded at least five times to accommodate more guests: 350 at one point.
It remained in the same spot as it grew beyond the original foundation.
In its heyday, customers waited for their table inside the lobby, sipping cups of complimentary apple cider from the barrel — as many swigs as they wanted. Wood from an old tobacco barn lined the interior, while a classic barn-red coated the outside.
A country store in one wing of the restaurant sold jams, jellies, relishes, stick candy and other old-fashioned goods. A cocktail lounge centered by an apple press sat in another.
“Wherever possible, the apple theme has been carried out in draperies and other decor,” The Star said in 1966.
Entrees included creamy baked chicken (a favorite of many), brisket and hickory smoked ham steak.
“I have never eaten chicken quite like this,” The Star raved. “It is brown, juicy and literally falls from the bones.”
Each dish came with a side of green rice casserole, a baked potato, bread and apple butter, corn relish and a choice of salad. (The tossed salad came with a wedge of cheese shaped like a carrot, a sprig of parsley stuffed on top.)
Remembering Stephenson’s
Barbara Young, now 86, dined at Stephenson’s regularly for date nights with her late husband, David. She wrote to The Star, suggesting an article about Stephenson’s as part of the Uniquely KC series on gone-but-not-forgotten restaurants. And she was one of many. Several other readers echoed her enthusiasm.
Young’s favorite time to visit was in the spring, when the apple trees around the restaurant were in full bloom.
“You always felt welcomed, and you always felt like you were special,” she said.
She always ordered the pork chops. Nobody did them like Stephenson’s.
“They were perfectly seasoned, always tender,” she said.
One evening in 2007, Young and her husband were planning to swing by for a routine date night when they realized it had closed.
After decades, the restaurant that had served thousands of locals — and presidents — was finished.
Thaddeus said the family was “tired and exhausted.” With the brothers growing older, they decided to close it down. Its mementos were sold in an auction that summer.
It was later razed, and today, a QuikTrip gas station stands in its place. Both Les and Loyd have since died.
But even 17 years later, the restaurant is fondly remembered.
One of its steadfast fans has been Jasper Mirabile, owner of Jasper’s Italian Restaurant, where Thaddeus works. Mirabile was friends with the brothers, swapping stories about the industry and attending conferences together.
So, when Mirabile was thinking of themes for his monthly supper club, he approached Thaddeus about the possibility of doing a Stephenson’s-themed menu. Thaddeus was flattered
They sold roughly 200 tickets in mere minutes, and Mirabile said they easily could have sold hundreds more.
“We had all the living Stephenson’s survivors — the nephews … the cousins, here for dinner that night,” Mirabile said. On the menu: favorites like the pork chops, baked chicken, green rice casserole and apple fritters.
(Earlier this year, local chef Rick Mullins recreated the fritters for one of his “Historic Exploration of Kansas City Cuisine” pop-up dinners.)
In fact, it was repeated interest from the general public that helped Thaddeus decide to launch his line of Stephenson’s products.
“The people that dined here that evening were just in love, so that really made me want to do it,” Thaddeus said.
More confirmation that he’s on the right path: In 2010, shortly before he died, his grandfather called Thaddeus to apologize.
“What do you have to apologize for?” Thaddeus remembers asking.
Les said he was sorry the restaurant wasn’t around for him anymore. He had wanted his grandson to take the reins one day.
“‘I didn’t see anyone else light up when you were doing that job,’” he said.
Thaddeus felt validated for his choice to continue on in the restaurant industry. And now, as he moves forward with his plans for Stephenson’s of Kansas City, he’s honored to carry on the family name.
“There were decades of people before me who laid down the brickwork,” Thaddeus said.
Uniquely KC is a Star series exploring what makes Kansas City special. Are you feeling nostalgic for a Kansas City area restaurant that closed years ago? Share your memories, and we may write about the place in a future story. Email Jenna Thompson at jthompson@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published July 8, 2024 at 5:30 AM.