Ameristar puts in one of the area’s largest sports bar TVs

A big sports bar should have a big sports bar TV.

So the Northland’s Ameristar Hotel & Casino has installed a 30-foot wide by 10-foot high LED professional-grade high-definition television. It covers the wall above the exhibition kitchen window at the 7,300-square-foot Amerisports Brew Pub. The TV made its debut Friday at the casino at 3200 N. Ameristar Drive.

A single image can be displayed across the full display, or the display can be divided in up to eight different images shown simultaneously, Ameristar said, and a new video wall also features a hearing hotspot where the user can use a mobile application to select and listen to the audio.

Amerisports, which opened in 2002, also features a 52-screen audio visual system, as well as an on-site brewery with five hand-crafted, award-winning beers and a seasonal IPA. It offers made-from-scratch appetizers like Buffalo wings and four-cheese quesadillas, along with salads and soups, entrees like sirloin steak platters and fish-and-chips, and specialty burgers and sandwiches.

Lee’s Summit to get first Midwest Bonchon

Bonchon Chicken is entering the Midwest with a new SummitWoods Crossing restaurant. It plans a late June opening at 1740 N.W. Chipman Road.

Bonchon offers Korean-style fried chicken, which is twice-fried for a crispy shell and then topped with one of the company’s signature sauces — soy garlic or a red pepper-based sauce — or both.

It also offers an Asian fusion menu that could include such items as salads, clam strips, edamame, Korean scallion pancakes, potstickers, rice bowls, sliders with a choice of bulgogi or crispy chicken, seasoned fries and bulgogi wraps.

It will have a full bar and offer local craft beers.

Local franchisees, Thomas Michael Hughes and his father, Thomas Arthur Hughes, plan to open at least five restaurants in the Kansas City region within the next five years. Their territory stretches from Lawrence to Columbia.

“The chicken wings are our bread-and-butter. But we also offer Korean comfort foods,” said Thomas Michael Hughes, who is managing partner. He had most recently been with Fiorella’s Jack Stack Barbecue for five years. The senior Hughes spent time in South Korea while in the military.

“We were looking for a great brand to partner with and something unique to Kansas City. Everyone loves chicken wings and beer,” he said.

Bonchon Chicken is currently remodeling the former Planet Sub space for a sports bar atmosphere that will include several flat-screen TVs. The restaurant will have about 50 employees.

The company was founded in South Korea in 2002 by Jinduk Seh and is still based there. He opened the first U.S. location in 2006 in New Jersey and the company now has more than 150 locations, including 30 locations in the U.S., both corporate and franchise owned.

Bonchon translates to “original village,” or the more Americanized “my hometown,” according to the company, which has its U.S. headquarters in New York.

This story was originally published June 10, 2015 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Ameristar puts in one of the area’s largest sports bar TVs."