KC’s new vintage sports-themed coffee spot and eatery is opening soon
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Le Champion opens next week in Westport, combining coffee, food and cocktails.
- Owner Amante Domingo blends retro sports decor with scratch food and cocktails.
- Menu features chef-led coffee, shared plates and locally sourced ingredients.
Le Champion, opening next week in the old Westport Ça Va spot, doesn’t fit snugly in a one- or two-word description.
In the earlier hours of the day, customers will walk up to the front counter of the 4149 Pennsylvania Ave. space and order coffee drinks, pastries and other breakfast items.
By 5 o’clock, it’s “laptops down and music up” for full-service food and drinks, including Champagne, owner Amante Domingo said.
Asked how he refers to his business, Domingo said that’s still up for debate.
“I’ve been calling it an all-day hangout,” he said. “I don’t know really how to categorize it. … I like to wait for the business to develop and the heart and soul to define that.”
To match its decor — yellowed bowling ball pins, old lockers and rusted trophies — Domingo will offer sporty tees and hats, further cementing Le Champion as a lifestyle brand.
It’s not entirely a restaurant, either, though he does have a scratch menu that includes deviled eggs royale, Caesar salad croquettes, smoked salmon and a tarragon aioli with fried capers.
“I’m really imagining food to be a social experience rather than it being so much about the food,” he said. “All little sharable plates, great lower price points.”
Drinks will include frozen rosé and coffee old fashioneds.
He’s especially proud of Le Champion’s coffee menu, fueled by beans from Broadway Cafe just down the road.
Domingo is rendering A5 beef fat into a caramel drizzle, as well as a bacon caramel sauce.
“Putting a chef in charge of coffee is so much different than putting a barista,” he said. “To me, my brain gets excited that there aren’t limitations.”
Le Champion, or simply “Champ” as he calls it, is the latest installation in his trilogy of restaurants.
He also owns Japanese restaurant Noka (a Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce date night spot), as well as American restaurant The Russell.
“I feel like this is really gonna be the bow of the restaurant group,” he said. “I really honestly just want a place for elevated, great people to come … and know that quality is going to be there.”
A spacious patio will seat 50 customers outside, with seating for just as many inside. He took extra care to convert the patio into a garden-style space. It has lush greenery, several tables and string lights hanging from above.
Last year, champagne bar Ça Va closed for renovations. Then, owner Howard Hanna decided to close it permanently, telling The Star at the time that it was in “bad shape financially.”
“I had never intended to be the one to handle the business side of it, and really never needed to until the last year or so. To be honest, I failed miserably at that,” he said.
Domingo spoke fondly of the former concept and said he wanted to honor the bar of a decade. Le Champion’s name itself is a spin off of the word “champagne.”
“What’s so exciting for me is just seeing the space lived in again,” he said. “The day (Ça Va was) closed, I felt a great deal of sadness for all the memories I had there.”