Buyer wanted: Upscale Johnson County restaurant and jazz club hoping for a next chapter

It may be last call for the current owner of Leawood’s Gaslight Grill, which has offered upscale cuisine and live jazz for more than a decade.

Bruce Olson, president of HRS Group, has not reopened Gaslight Grill since the shelter-in-place order in March and is looking for a buyer.

”We have been struggling with the pandemic, obviously,” he said. “I’m not a young man. I’m 71. I’m looking for someone else to take the reins. We’ve had considerable interest, so I am hopeful.”

He recently posted a notice on Gaslight Grill’s Facebook page saying he wouldn’t reopen on his own “in this uncertain business climate.”

Fans posted comments: “I absolutely LOVE the Gaslight Grill. Food was good, but most of all, I loved the live music and dancing. There’s no other place like this in the KC area.” “This is terrible news! THE BEST steak and fish in town!”

They also suggested a couple of local restaurant groups who might want to take over the spot.

The late Dick Hawk announced plans to open Gaslight Grill in the former Plaza III Steakhouse space in late 2008.

On its website, Gaslight Grill, at 5020 W. 137th St., says it is a place with “no pretensions, just elegant food and wine in a comfortable atmosphere.”

Menu items included rack of lamb, baby back ribs, seasonal risotto, Beef Wellington, steaks, Chilean sea bass and stuffed Atlantic salmon. On Sundays it had a brunch and prime rib dinner. Live jazz was in the Back Room five nights a week.

Olson said most of the staff of 50 is available, including key management, along with the fixtures and wine from its Wine Spectator award-winning list.

Hawk died three years ago and Olson took over. He said it has been his honor to carry on Hawk’s dream, but the “coronavirus has greatly damaged that vision.”

This story was originally published August 28, 2020 at 1:53 PM.