Looking for Black-owned KC restaurants? New passport guides tour of metro hot spots
As this year’s Black History Month wraps up today, a nonprofit supporting Black businesses in Kansas City is making a little history of its own, launching the city’s first Black-owned restaurant passport. It’s a guide to some popular and maybe not-so-well-known restaurants in the metro.
KC GIFT, also known as Generating Income For Tomorrow, is the group issuing the new dining passport booklets. Titled “Savor The City,” they feature more than a dozen restaurants.
Brandon Calloway, one of the founders of KC GIFT, which supports the growth of Black-owned businesses, including several restaurants in the metro, said this initiative is an effort “to encourage the community to grab their friends and explore local dining options.”
Restaurant-goers not only get to go on a culinary journey through Kansas City. They receive QR codes to menus in their passports, so they can rate the food and atmospheres of the places they eat on a one-to-five scale — with five being the highest.
Also, Calloway said, the passports give Kansas Citians and visitors to the city a fun way to support and celebrate the growth and success of Black businesses here.
The restaurants are located across the metro, from North Kansas City to downtown and midtown. They are also in Westport, Brookside and Raytown.
Dining options featured in the little black passport include everything from snacks and freshly crafted, cold-pressed juices to soul food, baked goods, pizza, vegan, seafood, and Southern cuisine with a modern urban twist.
The Kansas City Star is well aware that people in this fair city love to hear about, and test out, new food establishments. Several of the eateries featured in the passport have previously been featured in The Star series we call “Let’s Dish,” where reporters, photographers, and editors write about their favorite dishes at restaurants around town.
The passport booklets are available at the GIFT Business Center, 5008 Prospect Ave., or at any one of the restaurants in the passport.
Here are of few places to start:
- Ruby Jean’s Juicery, 3000 Troost Ave.
- Vee’s Sweet & Treats, 8005 The Paseo
- Union On The Hill, 2976 Gilham Road
- Gigi’s Vegan & Wellness Cafe, 1103 Westport Road
- The Combine, 2999 Troost Ave.
- District Biskuits, 504 Armour Road, North Kansas City
- Karen’s Kakes 6144 Raytown Trafficway
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 1:45 PM.
