Owner of beloved Kansas City cafe will open new restaurant downtown
It took just two years for beloved Waldo cafe Hemma Hemma to become so popular customers began asking for more.
In some ways it’s opening a second location of the cafe, but in others its next spot is a completely different concept.
Chef owner Ashley Bare said her upcoming spot at 1100 Main St. will have about 30% to 40% of the same menu. But when she toured the former Strang Chef Collective in the Lightwell building, it felt different than her original location at 7122 Wornall Road.
The somewhat same, somewhat different restaurant will be called Hemma Hemma Dinette. She hopes to open the space up in February.
“Someone coined grandma-chic for Waldo,” Bare said. “If Waldo is grandma-chic, Dinette is your cool, funky aunt-chic.”
Strang Chef Collective closed last year after a short two years on the Plaza and downtown. (It still holds its Overland Park spot, which is going through a refresh.) Bare is looking forward to infusing her style in the high-rise with large windows.
“The space is a little more modern. It’s lighter and brighter,” she said. “It feels very different than Hemma Hemma in Waldo.”
It’s diner-style in the sense that it’ll have hearty comfort foods, but it won’t be grease-filled like offerings at many diners.
The menu items that will carry over include masa pancakes, smoked salmon toast, chicken salad wrap and some pastries.
As for new items: Levain-style cookies (a New York favorite), muffins, housemade pastrami, a sunrise bowl, steak and eggs, chilaquiles, grilled cheese and more.
“There’s just some new, fun things,” Bare said.
Cinnamon roll cookies will also be on the menu — a nod to Hemma Hemma’s cinnamon rolls that won the heart of Chiefs’ Travis Kelce’s mother, Donna Kelce. The cinnamon rolls, however, will be Waldo exclusive.
Bare is planning on keeping it open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, at least when it first opens. Brunch on the weekends.
Hemma Hemma, which opened two years ago, recently launched dinner service at its Waldo space.
Bare plans to feel out exactly what the downtown area desires, but she predicts dinner service and happy hour might roll out in the spring.
“What excites me is being part of a different neighborhood,” she said. “I think every neighborhood is different and requires something different.”
The spirit of Hemma Hemma will carry over to the new spot. “Hemma” means “at home” in Swedish.
“People can expect the same homey feel, just something different,” she said. “It’ll be very fun, vibrant … a lot of visual delights.”