Conde Nast says KC is known for barbecue, but it quietly owns a ‘gooier’ option, too

Conde Nast Traveler says KC is home to many notable temples of meat, but it quietly owns a “gooier and more unexpected” category: cinnamon rolls.

It says cafes, bakeries and even a restaurant run by James Beard Award-winning chefs have a cinnamon roll on the menu. Here are five it recommends:

▪ The Corner Cafe, three locations in Independence, Liberty and Riverside. They serve a “monstrous and thoroughly impressive cinnamon roll” and the spiral layers “require a serrated knife to get through.”

▪ Donut King, North Kansas City. It offers “stellar cinnamon rolls in an awkward strip mall,” a “gargantuan...caramel pecan cinnamon roll topped with a flourish of chopped nuts.”

▪ Heirloom Bakery & Hearth, East Brookside. Its cinnamon roll is the “real star” in the bakery’s line-up, lighter on the cinnamon and heavier on the frosting. “Make sure to get there early though — the rolls sell out fast.”

▪ Scratch Bakery KC, downtown Kansas City. A flaky cinnamon roll that’s more moderate in size, but the “real draw is the slick slather of cream cheese frosting on top.”

▪ Rye, Leawood (and soon, the Country Club Plaza). Classic, plate-sized cinnamon rolls.

For more on these selections and other cinnamon roll offerings, check out Sarah Gish’s the Dish With Gish: Scouting out KC’s sweetest cinnamon rolls from early 2016.

This story was originally published July 11, 2017 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Conde Nast says KC is known for barbecue, but it quietly owns a ‘gooier’ option, too."