After acclaimed restaurant, couple aims to bring a new style of dining to Kansas City
The Antler Room has been good to Nick and Leslie Goellner.
Their Hyde Park restaurant, which opened in 2016, was named one of the best restaurants in the country by Wine Enthusiast in 2023. And Nick has been three times nominated for a James Beard Award.
In the spring, they’ll open another restaurant for Kansas Citians to savor — hopefully just as much as their first.
“We’re been kind of describing it as: if we put Antler Room in the middle of Tokyo,” Leslie said. “We wanted it to have the essence of some of the things we love about Japan … without it being a caricature of a Japanese restaurant.”
The new spot, called Anjin, will open at 1708 Oak St., formerly home to Howard’s Cafe, in the Crossroads.
Leslie said Anjin will be an izakaya, or a Japanese bar serving sake and casual dishes — similar to a Spanish tapas bar.
It will offer counter-only seating for 20 customers, who will sit in a U-shape with the kitchen and grill in the center.
“I think that’s a different element that’s part of a lot of restaurants in Japan. … The person’s cooking right next to you and they hand you the food,” Leslie said.
Staff will serve a variety of sake, udon, yakitori (skewered chicken) and other beverages and plates. Some cocktails and beer will also be on the menu.
With wood paneling and a custom-built bar, Anjin will have a sophisticated style similar to its sister restaurant.
Leslie and Nick travel frequently to Japan. Nick’s grandfather was a pilot and lived there for a while after World War II. During that time, Nick’s mother was born.
The name is, in part, inspired by Nick’s family. “Anjin” is Japanese for “pilot.”
The couple has worked in the restaurant industry in New York and San Francisco. The two then moved to Copenhagen so Nick could intern at three-star Michelin restaurant Noma.
The Goellners wanted to open an izakaya specifically because of its novelty in the Kansas City area.
“We’ve gotten really, really lucky that the things that have kind of excited us about exploring new places and eating new foods, other people have been interested in that as well,” Leslie said.