From endless sushi to Indian ice cream, see 15 spots that opened in KC in April
Over a dozen food and drink businesses opened up this past month throughout the Kansas City area, from Johnson County to Blue Springs.
The Star covered 15 openings, including new chain locations, bottomless sushi, unique ice cream and award-winning coffee. Here is a rundown of each of the articles published this month, fit for every craving.
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River House at Rock Island Bridge
Kansas City’s Rock Island Bridge, a new entertainment concept suspended 60 feet above the water, opened April 1. Inside is River House, which offers charred salmon and river views.
The concept is headed up by Miller (owner of Arthur Bryant’s and Guy’s Snacks) and chefs Bradley and Brittany Gilmore of Lula Southern Cookhouse.
The business partners are calling the menu “Midwest lake house meets coastal smoke house.” Bradley Gilmore headed up the seafood/lake-food centered menu and took inspiration from the atmosphere itself.
That presents itself in items like oysters on ice, for $22, which contains a half-dozen East Coast oysters, mignonette, cocktail sauce and a lemon. A Cuban sandwich contains pulled pork, ham, Swiss cheese, pickle and mustard on a pressed roll for $18.
For menu highlights, Gilmore pointed to two shared tableside options, which feed two to four guests each: The river pot ($29) is a pot of smoked mussels swimming in creamy broth, served with hand-cut fries, grilled sourdough, side sauces, and smoked herb butter. Chicken on a bridge ($39) is a smoked whole bird, cucumber salad, hand-cut fries and a barbecue sauce flight.
Burg & Barrel opens fourth location in north Overland Park
Burg & Barrel opened its newest location the first weekend of April in Leawood’s Ranch Mart North shopping center. The new spot, 3618 W. 95th St., neighbors health cafe Billie’s Grocery and sits behind Meat Mitch Barbecue.
Each Burg & Barrel location has its own flair and style, but the menu is all the same.
The burger-heavy menu includes popular dishes like the smokehouse ($16.50) with a patty cooked in liquid smoke, applewood bacon, cheddar, bibb lettuce, tomato, red onion and pickles, and the spicy avocado burger ($17) with a beef patty, applewood smoked bacon, cheddar, bibb lettuce, tomato, and avocado-chipotle-cilantro mayo.
Wraps, chicken tenders and more are also served. Every day, Burg & Barrel offers different specials Mondays through Thursdays. On Mondays, sliders are $3 each, and on Thursdays, Burg & Barrel features a $10 cheeseburger and fries.
Family-owned boba shop opens in Johnson County
Te Amo Cafe, located at 7932 W. 151st St., opened to a line of customers hoping to treat themselves to a variety of milk teas and pastries. The family-run boba shop hopes to foster community.
Owners Khaliq and Mehtab Khan began working with boba in 2020. That was the year they opened their first Fat Bee Boba franchise in Lee’s Summit and opened a second in St. Joseph in 2024 before deciding to add their own brand venture.
Te Amo Cafe sells customizable milk teas, coffee, matcha, lemonades, brew tea, fruit tea and more with the ability to add toppings like brown sugar boba and crystal boba. Drink prices range from $6 to $8.
There are also several cake options and croffles, which is a waffle made with both croissant and waffle batter to make it crispier (both $7).
The name Te Amo comes from Spanish, meaning I love you. It’s the tone the family wanted to instill for customers.
“We wanted to see our community come together, and if they were able to sit somewhere and have fun and we were the reasons behind that, that meant so much to us,” said Alysha Khan, the head of social media for her parents’ business.
Te Amo is open every day from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Sugar Llamas opens in Overland Park
Sugar Llamas is unique in that it offers doughnuts, ice cream and syrup-filled sodas, as well as coffee, energy drinks, shakes and more.
The one-stop-dessert-shop hailing from Tulsa opened its 8971 Metcalf Ave. location in Overland Park, and franchise owner Syed Haider hopes it’s the first of many.
“The goal is more expansion. More stores are coming in,” Haider said. “We have to find the right partners.”
Haider said many customers enjoy watching the doughnuts, which are always fresh-to-order, moving down the line. One of the “non-negotiables” at his business is the customer experience.
Sugar Llamas offers combinations like the Llama Smash (two scoops of ice cream smashed between a hot Bundt cake) and The Summit (two scoops of ice cream piled atop six mini doughnuts). The Llama Sundae features layered ice cream, hot fudge and “llama ears” (marshmallows).
The Overland Park spot is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily for now. Its hours will increase after its grand opening the first week of May. Sugar Llamas first opened in Tulsa in 2021 and now has close to 20 locations in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Connecticut. More are on the way. Its Wichita spot opened in 2023.
Agaves Mexican Grill opens in Olathe
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A new Mexican restaurant, Agaves Mexican Grill, has taken over an old restaurant space at 10478 S. Ridgeview Road.
Owner Gerardo Jaime, who’s a partner in a few of the El Maguey restaurants, opened the new restaurant, Agaves Mexican Grill, in the former Salty Iguana space a few days ago.
Agaves Mexican Grill offers a large sampling of burritos, street tacos, quesadillas, enchiladas and more. House margaritas include ($9.50 for a small flavored marg, $12.50 for a large) include passion fruit, guava, prickly pear, lychee, blueberry, mango, watermelon and more. They’re offered on the rocks or frozen.
On the food side, its specialties include sopes ($14), tamales especiales (tamales with sour cream, avocado, salsa verde and cheese dip for $15), agave bowl (rice, black beans, mixed greens, pico, sour cream and shredded cheese for $15.50). Jaime said the space seats about 130 patrons and will soon add a patio.
It’s open from 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays, and 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Naturalz Indian ice cream opens in Johnson County
There are plenty of ice cream shops in Johnson County and the greater Kansas City area, but none quite like Naturalz.
At the new shop, which opened at 6301 W. 135th St. next to Desi Chowrastha, rich flavors like chikoo and kesar pista sit in an ice cream case beside more common ones like cotton candy dream and butterscotch swirl.
The Washington-based chain sources its fruit and other various ingredients from India. At its packaging facility in San Antonio, Texas, it mixes the fresh fruits into creamy concoctions.
Inside the store, employees press waffle batter into fresh cones and scoop figgy fusion and orange cream Biscoff. In addition to scoops, Naturalz offers falooda, a cold drink mix similar to a milkshake.
The Overland Park location is Naturalz’s fifth spot. The others are in San Antonio and Washington state.
Let’s Go BBQ opens inside former Independence Applebee’s
Jayla Solomon, manager at Let’s Go BBQ, said the opening of her new restaurant is something the Independence community has been waiting for.
Let’s Go BBQ offers all-you-can-eat Korean barbecue at 18801 E. 39th St. S in Independence Center, with assistance from singing robot servers.
When customers walk in, a hostess will seat them and ask for their phone number. Once provided, customers will receive a QR code with the menu. From there, customers can select from a variety of meats, sauces and sides.
Proteins include beef short rib, bulgogi beef, ribeye, pork belly and shrimp teriyaki. Non-meat items include sweet pineapple, kimchi, cheesy corn, jasmine rice, a veggie platter and macaroni salad.
Once customers are seated and have ordered, a rolling robot blasting energetic tunes will turn the corner with their uncooked items. It’s up to diners to scorch the items themselves utilizing the grill in the center of their tables. They can adjust the heat of the grill using the knobs on the side.
Lunch is $24.99 per person with a one-hour limit, while customers are allotted two hours during dinner service for $34.99.
McDonald’s opens in Northland
The global fast food giant that sells burgers, fries and sandwiches, opened a new location at 8650 N. Indiana Ave., according to area supervisor Veronica Dunn. Inside the dining room are three touch screens to order and a countertop to pick up food. The location also offers a drive-thru and curbside pick up. The new McDonald’s is part of a new development in the area, which includes a Chipotle, Burger King, Dutch Bros. and a Casey’s gas station. The location will be open 24 hours a day.
69 Sushi opens in Overland Park
Owner/manager Emily Wu said she knew the Top Soup Yunnan owners and made an agreement to take over the space, opening her own concept inside. Instead of a sit-down Chinese noodle joint, it’s now an all-you-can-eat restaurant specializing in sushi.
69 Sushi, is located right off Highway 69 at 7956 W. 151st St. in the Stanley Square shopping center.
Wu hails from China and has been in the U.S. for more than a decade, originally coming over to attend Wichita State University before marrying and settling down in Kansas.
Like many buffets, customers walk in and are seated, then are free to pick up a plate (or two) and pile it high with as many sushi rolls as they desire.
There’s a variety of classic sushi rolls like Philadelphia rolls or specialties like the Jayhawk roll (cream cheese, avocado, shrimp tempura and spicy tuna) as well as sashimi (individual pieces of fish served with ginger, soy sauce and wasabi). Assorted hand rolls, or sushi wrapped in large seaweed cones.
But it’s not just sushi rolls at 69 Sushi. The restaurant also serves fried chicken, oysters, tiramisu, lamb chops, fried rice, noodles, seafood boil and more.
69 Sushi is priced differently depending on the day and time. Mondays through Thursdays are $21.99 at lunch and $26.99 for dinner. Fridays through Sundays are $31.99.
Beirut Taco opens on 39th Street
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Maher Chebaro blurs the lines between Mexican and Lebanese cuisine in his new venture, Beirut Taco, which opened inside the former d’Bronx space at 3904 Bell St.
Why serve the crossover dishes rather than one or the other? “It’s what I like to eat,” Maher said.
It’s easy to spot what’s typically considered Mexican and what’s Middle Eastern. His menu includes tacos (Mexican) with halloumi cheese (Middle Eastern), lamb hashwe (Middle Eastern) burritos (Mexican), and samke harra (Middle Eastern) mole (Mexican).
Maher and his brother, Marwan Chebaro, have been known in the Kansas City food scene since the ‘80s with concepts like Cafe Rumi and Tribal Grill. Later Maher moved away, and Marwan began working in corporate dining.
Maher Chebaro’s Mexican-Lebanese restaurant El Cedro in Brooklyn has done well, so he figured he’d try it in Kansas City, where his restaurant career started. “It’s like full circle,” he said. “I started here, and I ended up here.”
Maher said he’s always playing with his menus so he never gets bored, but for now it contains several tacos, burritos, and plates. Chiles el Sultan ($22) is a poblano filled with lamb, rice, raisins, almonds and eggplant-chihuahua bechamel sauce. Shawarma steak arrachera ($28) has skirt steak green rice, tomato-morita sauce, caramelized onions and nopales. Pescado tacos ($14 for two) have zaatar-crusted cod, lime-cilantro slaw and harissa mayonnaise.
Scratch opens in Prairie Village
Owner of Scratch, Tyler Morrison, abandoned his original much smaller space, to take on the one next door, formerly Story. Now Scratch Gourmet Kitchen is fully operating.
It’s different from Story, Morrison concedes. That spot, while beloved by its fans, had a more quiet atmosphere. He wants it to be a place where people can dress up and enjoy a date night, or walk over after a workout and snag a cocktail.
Chef Mitchell Fetterling is always tinkering with the menu. He shifts gears seasonally and bases it on what’s fresh. Fetterling worked at two-star Michelin restaurant Saison in San Francisco, then Exit Strategy in Kansas City. Before all that, he was with Bluestem, a now-closed restaurant owned by Colby and Megan Garrelts.
Currently, the menu offers potato beignets (with dried mushroom and herb seasoning, charred leek and green goddess dip for $15), smoked mushroom rigatoni (local oyster mushrooms, lemon cream sauce, guanciale, crispy shallot for $33), roasted beet salad ($16), salmon ($37) and more.
The bar program includes cocktails like Three Sips to the Wind (Navy Strength Gin, Terroir Gin, blanc and dry vermouth and Alpine for $18).
Famous Philly Cheesesteak opens near KU Med
A Vietnamese restaurant and boba tea shop has been replaced with a new fast food chain — this one serving Philly cheesesteaks, burgers, and meatball Parms. Famous Philly Cheesesteak, at 3920 Rainbow Blvd., sits across from the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.
Employees at the restaurant told The Star its most popular items are the original Philly (classic cheesesteak with grilled onions and white American cheese for $10.79) and the Reuben (corned beef, Swiss, sauerkraut and Thousand Island on marble rye for $15.49).
Burgers include the BBQ bacon cheddar cheeseburger, green chile cheeseburger, and mushroom and Swiss burger.
Cheese curds, battered mushrooms, New York-style cheesecake and chocolate chip cannolis are also available. (Employees noted that the cannolis are made fresh in-house.)
Famous Philly Cheesesteak’s parent company, Taste of Philly, was founded in 1993 in Denver. Sister brand Famous Philly Cheesesteak joined the company in 2019. Several more locations opened up across Colorado before the brand eventually ventured into a few other states (Arizona, Utah and beyond).
The KCK spot will be open from 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Dark Horse coffee shop opens in Blue Springs
Abbey Hansen and her sister, Holly Holcomb, opened Dark Horse at 1702 SW Route 7. Like the idiom, their coffee shop hopes to bring surprising offerings to the coffee scene.
They aim to offer products that push customers’ expectations. Some of the items that break the norm: a cherry Cola float (Coca-Cola topped with espresso and house cherry cold foam, served over ice), the spring stallion (a seasonal cold brew with housemade tamarind brown sugar syrup, topped with toasted coconut cold foam and toasted coconut), and a shakerato (double shot of espresso shaken with cream, house syrup and served on ice).
The shop’s signature drink shares its name with the coffee shop and is a brown sugar, honey and salt latte.
Onyx Coffee is the main roaster for Dark Horse. The Arkansas-based coffee shop and roaster recently made a mark as the first coffee shop to become a finalist for the prestigious James Beard Awards. It was also named the best coffee shop in the world by industry ranking system The World’s 100 Best Coffee Shops.
While Onyx will be the main roaster, it will be supplemented by a few others, like Archetype in Omaha and Metric in Chingu. Pastries from Bloom Baking Co. are also available. Dark Horse is open from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays.
Chicken Salad Chick opens in Liberty
Georgia-based chain Chicken Salad Chick opened its third Kansas City location at 8311 N. Booth Ave., in Liberty. Owned by husband and wife Alan and Kendra Greenwood, this marks the third location in Kansas City in the past year.
Chicken Salad Chick has been offering scoops and sandwiches, including cheddar melt meals (chicken salad sandwich with cheddar cheese and bacon), BLTs, turkey clubs and more.
Other locations are in Overland Park at 9222 Metcalf Ave. and in Lee’s Summit at 1020 NW Pryor Road. (The Greenwoods own the Lee’s Summit spot, while sisters Jo Anne Williams and Cindy Sulzman own the Overland Park one.)
Italian Sausage Co. opens in River Market
The Italian Sausage Co., a deli that started in Gladstone four years ago, opened its walk-up window in the River Market at 518 Grand Blvd. The new location, formerly the kitchen for delivery company ClusterTruck, is completely outside and features about a half-dozen picnic tables on the side of the building. Customers look at the menu posted on one window and order from the other.
A manager at the window told The Star the deli’s most popular items include the No. 5 (mortadella, salami, provolone, ham, Swiss, red wine vinaigrette, chopped olive salad on a toasted seeded loaf) and the No. 7 (ham, capocollo, genoa salami, pepperoni, provolone, lettuce, onion, tomato, pepperoncini, shredded lettuce, arugula, house-made garlic aioli, mustard, oil and vinegar on an Italian seeded loaf.
But its Italian sausage is the star. Owner Joe Brancato Jr. is the third generation in his family to make the no-fillers, no-gluten, no-preservatives, no-MSG sausage. His family operated Brancato’s Market at 4019 Independence Ave. for several years until 2002, according to the company’s website.
For now, the new location will be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays. Hours will eventually extend. Previous reporting from The Star’s Jenna Thompson was used in this piece.
