Leawood’s Red Door Woodfired Grill is expanding to Brookside

When Red Door Woodfired Grill opened in Leawood in 2013, the owners said they planned multiple locations.

Now they are gutting the former Blue Grotto space at 6324 Brookside Plaza in Brookside and planning to open there in early November.

“We saved a lot of the material to be as green as we can,” said Gary Zancanelli, co-owner and founder. “It will have a vintage, industrial-type feel with a bigger bar area than our first one. Our plan is for it to feel like Brookside but that it has been there for 50 years.”

He also plans to create an all-season patio and make the upper mezzanine space available for private events.

Red Door opened in Camelot Court, 11851 Roe Ave., in May 2013. Menu items include wood-fired burgers, sandwiches and tacos and entrees such as wood-fired Atlantic salmon, meatloaf, roasted chicken and buttermilk breaded chicken tenders.

Zancanelli also has a new partner, Mark Kirke. He’s been working on new menu items for the Leawood location, as well as new items that will be available only at the Brookside location.

They also have changed the name from Red Door Woodfire Kitchen & Bar to Red Door Woodfired Grill.

Blue Grotto opened in mid-2008 and closed in late February. The owners said the landlord wanted a significant increase in rent and then negotiations unexpectedly fell through.

This story was originally published May 12, 2016 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Leawood’s Red Door Woodfired Grill is expanding to Brookside."