Owners closing a Kansas City restaurant, ready to open a ‘sexy’ Spanish cocktail bar
Bad news for Northland tapas fans: After seven years, Trago Bar & Tapas will permanently close Saturday.
Owner Kandi Kerns already has her next venture lined up, though.
She plans to open Fuego, a Spanish cocktail bar, in the former home of The Space at 1412, an antique and vintage store on the ground floor of what is sometimes called the Burlap Bag building, at 1412 W. 12th St. Kerns and her daughter Alexandria Snavely have been building out the West Bottoms bar since taking over the lease in January and expect to open next weekend.
“We’re going for upscale Latin flair, a place where you might stop by after dinner to have a nice cocktail, or where service industry people can come after their shifts,” Snavely said.
The 6,100-square-foot space includes a bar with a stage, a room for chef’s dinners and cooking classes, and a “speakeasy” space for VIP members. A former safe has been converted into an intimate, Instagram-friendly hideaway toward the back of the bar.
Expect a lot of flamenco music, Kerns said. “This place really glows in this beautiful way at night, so we’re trying to capture that sexy vibe.”
Kerns is bringing along four longtime Trago employees and has hired bartenders formerly of Green Lady Lounge and Rye, she said.
Cocktails on the menu include the Amante Picante (cucumber vodka, cilantro, lime juice, agave nectar, jalapeno) and the Mezcal Merengue (Banhez mezcal, lime, orgeat almond syrup, sweet vermouth). “We have a huge wine program at Trago, and we’ll have a lot of those wines here as well,” Kerns said.
Trago, at 9261 N.E. 83rd Terrace near Liberty, was dedicated to Kerns’ Guatemalan grandmother, who taught her how to cook, and other family members from Costa Rica and Spain. Fuego won’t be serving sit-down meals like Trago, but Kerns is planning a “cold kitchen” stocked with some menu favorites from that restaurant, including the caprese salad, ceviche and the “avocado loco” (avocado, roasted corn salsa, black beans, tomatoes, Cotija cheese and chips).
Fuego will be open Wednesday and Thursday 4 p.m. to midnight, Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., and Sunday 5 p.m. to midnight.
