New JoCo eatery will offer new take on classics such as meatloaf, chicken fried steak
Overland Park’s Strang Hall is saying goodbye to one chef concept and putting in a replacement.
Eli Neal is launching Minglewood in the food hall at 7313 W. 80th St. in downtown Overland Park.
Minglewood, which planned a soft opening Sept. 15, will offer Neal’s spin on classic American favorites — pork chops, chicken fried steak, meatloaf sandwiches, and shrimp and grits.
“What happens when you treat these classic dishes the same way chefs treat other dishes?” Neal said. “We don’t spend our time talking about, say, grits. What are the best grits a person can make?”
Neal’s great-grandmother once had a restaurant in a small Ohio town, and he grew up spending a lot of time in her farmhouse kitchen.
“My first food memory is my Grandpa Kenny catching a snapping turtle and showing it to me and Granny cooking it,” he said.
He later cooked in restaurants during college at Kansas State University and then worked at a few corporate kitchens, as well as family owned restaurants, before moving to Kansas City in late 2011.
He was line cook and then sous chef at the former Hotel Sorella on the West Plaza. He also was a chef at Westport’s PotPie before moving back to Manhattan and working at a high-end meat market.
He later joined mainstay Harry’s in Manhattan. But it closed in mid-July after 30 years because of the “insurmountable economic blow due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” the owners said in a statement.
Then Neal heard about an opening in the food hall. Minglewood replaces Basabasa.
Its menu will include Picnic Chicken (boneless fried chicken, pickled watermelon rind, jalapeno, arugula and spiced peach sauce for $10), shrimp and grits for $12, chicken fried steak sandwiches with house-made pickle and black pepper aioli for $13 and a Catfish Po’boy for $14.
It has two entrees: Yankee Pot Roast (red wine-braised boneless short rib slow-roasted with potatoes and root vegetables and chimichurri for $19) and Pork Chop Old Fashioned (J. Rieger & Co. whiskey-glazed boneless pork chop with orange cherry chutney, grits, braised greens and roasted pecans for $17).
It will also have cherry bread pudding and malts for dessert.
“I knew ultimately this was the kind of cuisine I wanted to be cooking,” Neal said.
He named it after a classic blues song that several artists have put their own spin on over the years, including the Grateful Dead.
Minglewood planned a soft opening at 5 p.m. Sept. 15 and the grand opening at 11 a.m. Sept. 16.
Strang Hall opened in late 2019 with six chefs.
This story was originally published September 15, 2020 at 10:15 AM.