Kansas City’s new Third Street Social opening with fried chicken, Mississippi catfish

In late summer 2020, when many area restaurants were trying to figure out how to make it through a pandemic winter, the Summit Group started working on another new restaurant.

They leased a red brick building at 5031 Main St. and have spent the last 10 months remodeling it for Third Street Social, the second location in the metro.

It is scheduled to open at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, July 28.

“It definitely took us a little longer to get open, trying to get staffed up and just all the other challenges that are right now facing our industry and other industries,” said co-owner Domhnall Molloy. “But we’re pretty confident and excited to be where we’re at today.”

Third Street Social offers upscale, classic American comfort food with a “contemporary spin” such as fried chicken, chicken pot pie (with wine-braised chicken and house-made pastry), shrimp and grits, meatloaf (with Angus beef and andouille sausage), pineapple-soy marinated rib-eye, slow-roasted prime rib sandwiches, and a variety of salads and burgers.

Molloy and Andy Lock of Summit Group opened their first Third Street Social on Third Street in downtown Lee’s Summit in 2016. In September, they said they would take over the former Nick and Jake’s space in the south Plaza.

The 6,500-square-foot restaurant has a patio, a parking lot with about 40 spaces, and an upstairs for overflow and private dining.

It will be open weekdays for lunch, happy hour and dinner; and brunch, happy hour and dinner on Saturdays and Sundays. Brunch will start in mid-August.

The building at 5031 Main had long been the home of Country Club Cleaners before it held a series of restaurants starting in the late 1970s: Nitty’s Noodle Co., Minsky’s Pizza, Main Street Broker Cafe & Saloon, Arthur’s on Main, the Double Dragon, Jack Gage, and Nick and Jake’s on Main.

Lock, Molloy and Summit’s culinary director Po Wang, also have Pearl Tavern in Lee’s Summit; Boru Asian Eatery and South of Summit Taqueria & Tequila in Waldo; Summit Grill in Gladstone, Lee’s Summit and Waldo; and a ghost kitchen called Smash-N-Nash.