It took me 26 years to try this beloved Kansas City sandwich. Don’t be like me
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Kitty’s Cafe is a Kansas City staple. The tiny restaurant sits at 810 1/2 E. 31st St. in midtown Kansas City, in between the Union Hill and North Hyde Park neighborhoods.
Despite its reddish-brown brick building, it’s easy to miss when you’re driving through the area. The exterior makes it look like a tiny house, blending in with the neighborhood.
The cafe has been Asian-owned since it was founded in 1951 by a Japanese American couple, Paul and Kitty Kawakami, who had been confined to a U.S. internment camp out in California during World War II, even though they were born in the U.S., according to the Star archives.
Their restaurant quickly gained a following for its tenderloins — three thin pieces of pork, chicken or catfish deep-fried in Japanese-style tempura batter, and topped with lettuce, pickles and house-made hot sauce.
The meal was featured on The Star’s top 10 dishes to try in the Kansas City metro and named one of the top 50 restaurants in the United States by The New York Times in 2022. It’s also on restaurant review website Eater’s top 32 restaurants in the city.
I’ve somehow missed it in my two decades of living in Kansas City, and I lived just a few blocks away in the Squier Park neighborhood. Co-owner Jinna Soulivong couldn’t believe her ears.
“That’s crazy you’ve been here your whole life and never stepped in,” she said. “Someone didn’t bring you a sandwich or anything?”
It was time to change that.
After closing for an expansion in April that never came to fruition, which included converting the patio next to it into an indoor dining space, the acclaimed restaurant reopened Oct. 10 for everyone to start ordering its iconic tenderloin again.
Jinna’s father, Charlie Soulivong, had taken over the restaurant in 1999, after it had bounced around between owners for a few years following the Kawakamis’ retirement in 1986. Other than the prices, adding new kitchen equipment and installing new countertops, nothing’s changed about the restaurant, including the recipes, Jinna Soulivong said.
The inside only has enough space to host a few people waiting in line, and there is no indoor seating. The menu also has cheeseburgers, breakfast sandwiches and BLTs.
Most days, people can wait up to an hour for the sandwich. The five-person crew made up of Charlie, Jinna, mother Tai, a cousin and Jinna’s boyfriend are hard at work preparing everything. At one point, it was only Charlie and Tai running the show before they offered their nephew a job. As soon as Jinna was old enough to work, they called her into action.
Kitty’s Cafe doesn’t have a phone for customers to call because it gets so busy that no one can answer. But Jinna said customers don’t mind the wait and either hang around and talk to other customers or run errands in the area.
I bought the pork tenderloin ($9.50) and a side of crinkle-cut fries ($4) on a recent Wednesday. Chicken is the same price, while catfish is a little more expensive, at $9.80.
A 15-minute wait for the meal is only a sliver of the 26 years on this planet I went without eating the sandwich. Clearly, I waited too long.
You’re met with the sweet flavors of the tempura batter immediately on the first bite, and the hot sauce comes in with a nice kick. It may make it a bit uncomfortable for people with low spice tolerances, but it’s worth it to keep pushing through.
Each bite is crispy and tender, and it only gets better the more you dive into it. The family buys the tenderloins fresh and spend plenty of time preparing them for the customers.
Soulivong said her mom stays up cutting, slicing, tenderizing and breading each piece so it’s ready for the next day. Sometimes she’s up until 3 a.m. making sure everything is ready for the restaurant that’s open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every Monday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday.
“It’s a lot of work that goes into those tenderloins,” she said. “I think they can taste that.”
The tenderloin is the star of the show, and it’s easy to see why it gets so much praise, but you should take your time with it. The sandwich and the fries fill you up fast, so savor every last bite.
It’s cash only, so don’t forget to have some bills on hand before you go.
This story was originally published November 20, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
