JoyceKC Notebook: Updates on The Classic Cup Cafe, Crows Coffee, Wasabi Sushi Bar and more

In 2013, Dan McCall left The Classic Cup Cafe to open Waldo’s The District Pour House + Kitchen with partner Jason Rourke.

But he remained a shareholder in the Country Club Plaza restaurant at 301 W. 47th St.

Now he’s also its director of operations. McCall will concentrate on social media, leveraging vendors with the combined buying power of the two restaurants, and will oversee a remodeling of the Classic Cup with a possible bar expansion.

The Classic Cup Cafe opened in a 300-square-foot Westport space in 1976 and in 1981 moved into a 3,000-square-foot space. It signed a lease for the Plaza location in 1989.

John Meyer became majority owner of the restaurant in 1992 and will continue to serve as president and guarantor but with hopes of now “getting two or three days off a week,” he said.

The other shareholders are Mike Turner, Brian Gilhousen and Stephan Molloy.

The Westport Classic Cup Cafe closed in 2001.

Other restaurant updates

▪ Crows Coffee, 304 E. 51st St., hopes to add craft beers and wine to its menu by summer.

“It is so underutilized in the evenings,” said owner Zach Moores. “But I definitely don’t want it to turn into a bar. I want to make it a place people can come to before and after dinner.”

It also may offer live jazz one night a week.

▪ Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers plans to open a location at 1822 E. North Ave. in Belton. Construction is scheduled to start in two weeks, with a projected midsummer opening.

▪ Andy’s Frozen Custard had a soft opening for its new Lee’s Summit location, 598 N.E. Missouri 291, in December.

Now it’s time for the grand opening. On Friday, anyone stopping by the restaurant from 11 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. will get a free one-topping sundae.

Wasabi Sushi Bar shuts down

Less than two years after opening in Overland Park’s Prairiefire, Wasabi Sushi Bar has closed.

The St. Louis-based sushi bar and Japanese restaurant chain took a 3,000-square-foot spot at 5621 W. 135th St. The first Wasabi Sushi Bar opened in St. Louis in 2003.

“If you have the right product and service and marketing, usually it is going to work, and that didn’t,” said Fred Merrill Jr., developer of Prairiefire.

Officials with Wasabi Sushi Bar did not return phone calls.

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 6:04 PM with the headline "JoyceKC Notebook: Updates on The Classic Cup Cafe, Crows Coffee, Wasabi Sushi Bar and more."