With Town Topic no longer 24 hours, where will Kansas City nosh at night?

When the clock strikes midnight, hungry Kansas Citians will no longer be able to rely on a fixture that has supplied night owls with burgers and fries for years — at least for now.

KC institution Town Topic announced this week its Broadway Boulevard location would pause on serving its menu of greasy diner staples into the late hours of the night, citing safety and security issues following a nearby April 26 shooting that left one man dead.

“We have exhausted all of our resources in an attempt to keep Town Topic safe for our staff, customers and community,” the burger joint said in a statement. “Unruly crowds that loiter in the unstaffed and unsecured corner lot next to Town Topic, where the shooting on April 26th occurred, have increased safety concerns and budgets over the last years.”

For those who have sought drunken hunger refuge at Town Topic, the new hours are a tough pill to swallow: 8 p.m. will now be Town Topic’s closing time until the restaurant can figure out a solution, which might be online ordering or late-night delivery.

Until then, where will we nosh at night?

It’s a question that was already ridiculously hard to answer in Kansas City. Then the COVID-19 pandemic happened and globally shifted everyone’s clocks. Earlier outings have become normalized, and staffing restaurants and bars at later hours has become a challenge.

The Kansas City Star updated its guide to late-night dining in 2025. A few options appear to have adjusted their kitchen hours since then (according to Google’s listed hours, which can sometimes be unreliable or constantly change) or closed for good.

In Kansas City, we enjoy a later-than-average last call of 3 a.m. in so-called entertainment districts, but the food options that would then soak up that alcohol are thinning.

Temporarily during the World Cup, all Kansas City bars and restaurants may be allowed to stay open until 3 a.m., or 5 a.m. if they are in an entertainment district (Crossroads, Downtown, Westport, 18th & Vine, etc.). The ordinance, introduced by Mayor Quinton Lucas, has to pass the City Council first.

It’s unclear which businesses will actually extend their hours that late, but it’s more likely to be bars than food-serving establishments. For those patrons crawling out of the possibly few 5 a.m. closing-time bars, there will be even fewer options for grub.

Late-night food isn’t just for the barflies, but also for first responders and other late-night shift workers. If not Town Topic, where will they get a bite at night?

Is there anywhere left that’s truly a 24-hour restaurant (that isn’t a national chain)? How about restaurants that serve us after last call? Or even until midnight?

We want you, the readers, to tell us what might satisfy your nighttime craving while Town Topic locks up before the sun even sets.

We’d love it if these were truly late-night spots that serve people food at least until midnight — even better if later. Maybe they aren’t open late on the weekdays, but they’d better be come Friday and Saturday. The preferred options would be restaurants where guests can still sit down, but if your go-to late-night spot only does delivery, tell us about it.

Let me know by emailing me at katelyn.umholtz@kcstar.com, or fill out the form below.

This story was originally published May 14, 2026 at 3:34 PM.