Big Tony’s fills a food slot at Ameristar

When Ameristar Casino Hotel Kansas City needed to fill the former Sbarro spot in the food court, it decided against another national tenant.

Parent company, Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., had been offering its Big Tony’s Pizza for room service only at their St. Louis casino and hotel for five years. They named it after Pinnacle’s chief executive officer, Anthony Sanfilippo, and used his great-grandmother’s sauce recipe.

Ameristar, at 3200 N. Ameristar Drive, took that concept and turned into the brick-and-mortar Big Tony’s Pizza. It opened earlier this month in the former Sbarro space next to Burger King.

Executive chef Jerrold Brooks focuses on fresh ingredients and makes the dough in-house. Pizza comes in 6-inch and 12-inch sizes — cheese, vegetable, pepperoni, and meat lovers (with prosciutto, Italian sausage and pepperoni) — cooked in seven-and-a-half minutes in a 600-degree oven. The menu also includes a salad, bread sticks or cheese sticks with marinara sauce, cinnamon bread sticks, and beer. Soon it will offer the Big Tony, a whopping 26-by-18-inch pizza.

“It’s very important to our company, having our own original concepts,” said Roxann Kinkade, spokeswoman for Ameristar.

Hours are 11 a.m. to midnight Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

Street concerts on McGee

Some local investors are kicking off a new downtown music venue with April street concerts.

Prohibition Hall, at 1118 McGee St., will offer live music from local and regional bands, mostly blues and jazz, as well as a few national acts. The owners are currently upgrading the sound system and are in talks with area food operations to sublease the kitchen.

It plans a soft opening with street concerts on McGee between 11th and 12th streets. The Bacon Brothers will play on April 24 and The Boxmasters featuring Billy Bob Thornton on April 25. For more information, visit McGee Street Events.

Openings

▪ Dick’s Sporting Goods, one of the nation’s largest full-line sporting goods retailers, has confirmed plans to open in Independence Center in early 2016.

Angela Pyszczynski, general manager of Independence Center, said in a statement: “Dick’s Sporting Goods is an ideal addition to our family-friendly retail mix at Independence Center, which will have great appeal to our shopper base that includes many sports enthusiasts.”

Previously, Howard Riefs, spokesman for Sears, said the company “recently worked with the Independence Center developer to streamline the size of our Sears store to better meet our needs in serving our members and customers - and their desire to bring Dick's Sporting Goods to the mall.”

Along with that former Sears space on the lower level, Dick’s also will take the former Zumiez space. Zumiez relocated in the shopping center at 18801 E. 39th St. in Independence.

Dick’s currently has an Independence location in Bolger Square, 17730 E. 39th St., less than a mile west of Independence Center. The company declined to comment on that location.

▪ Chaos Boutique plans to open later this week at 113 Main St. in downtown Parkville. The locally owned shop will offer new, vintage, repurposed and antique home decor, as well as some new apparel, accessories and seasonal items.

This story was originally published April 15, 2015 at 8:16 AM with the headline "Big Tony’s fills a food slot at Ameristar."