Plaza area restaurant with devoted KC following has new owners. What’s changing?
After 21 years, Cafe Trio — a resturant just east of the Country Club Plaza, known for its live piano music, fine dining, opulent holiday decorations and a devoted customer following — has changed hands.
On Monday, Whitney VinZant, chief executive officer of W. VinZant Restaurants — which owns 13 other Kansas City area restaurants including Waldo Pizza, Taco Republic, BRGR Kitchen + Bar and, on the Plaza, Gram & Dun and Heritage by Bo Ling’s — confirmed that it had entered into a “partnership” with Trio’s founders Chris Youngers and Tai Nguyen.
“What I would really like is for this to not sound like this is a buyout or something like that,” VinZant said. “It is opportunity for us to bring some resources to bear and that I think are going to make a wonderful addition to the food, to the culinary at Cafe Trio.”
Will Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day decor be gone?
As of last week, Chief Jacob Hilbert, formerly the chef at Stock Hill, a steakhouse at 4800 Main St., had already taken charge of the kitchen at Trio, 4558 Main St., and, on Thursday, added new items to the menu. The new general manager is Tyger Barros.
VinZant on Monday, said there is no plan to replace the live music, played nightly by a pianist seated at a black grand piano in the dining room. Nor, he said, does he anticipate doing away with the annual oppulent decorations that each year fill every corner of the restaurant, hang from its ceiling and surround the restaurant’s rear outdoor deck at Halloween, Christmas and Valentine’s Day.
Decorating at Trio had, for many customers, become an annual tradition. Customers and staff would work together, spending hours over sometimes multiple days to create set pieces of skeletons and mummies, giant spiders, disembodied hands and faces emerging from the walls. At Christmas, beginning at Thanksgiving, the restaurant became a landscape of shimmering presents, trees and ornaments.
Halloween decorating this year is scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 28.
“In fact, the only way that I would partner with Tai on it is if he continued to do, to be involved in, and to do his decorations and everything that he loves to do,” VinZant said. “I mean, I just love how unique that is for Kansas City. We want to, we’ve got to, keep that stuff going.”
Trio owners staying on through December at least
Youngers, 52, said that he and Nguyen, 53, who are both business and life partners, are not officially retiring. They plan to be at Trio daily through the end of the December during the restaurant’s transition. About six months from now, he said, he and Nguyen will settle on what role, if any, they may play within the VinZant company.
“It’s a partnership,” Youngers said. “It’s been exciting to get some help and some investment and to kind of move things forward. . . . It’s a partnership with this structure that could go a couple of different way maybe over the next six months. We’re supposed to come back and figure out the final way forward. It’s all not settled yet. . . . There’s still a lot of moving parts.”
VinZant said that, for now, the restaurant will keep the name Cafe Trio, but a name change is possible. Traditionally closed on Sundays, VinZant said said they are thinking of adding a Sunday brunch.
New interior design by Heather White of Tailleur
A new interior may also soon be in the works, with construction planned in the new year. VinZant said the company will be working with Heather White on the design. She is the owner of Kansas City restaurant Tailleur, 3922 Main St., and the cocktail lounge Cheval, 3940 Main St. White also owned the bakery Enchanté, 3934 Main St., before it closed in March. It reopened in April under new owners as Soli Deo.
The roots of Cafe Trio date to November2003 when a trio — Nguyen, Youngers and former partner Al Richey — bought the 100-seat Papagallo’s restaurant at 3535 Broadway. Seven months later, in June 2004, they opened the spot as Café Trio for casual fine dining.
In 2009, they moved to Main Street, with the rear of the restaurant overlooking Mill Creek Park. The spot had formerly been occupied by the restaurants Venue, Charlie’s on the Hill between 1996 and 1998 and then, between 1999 and 2007, Frondizi’s Ristorante.
“We totally understand that everyone’s got some anxiety with any change,” Youngers said. “We’re certainly there with everybody. But we needed some help. We needed some investment. The concept really needs some refreshing to really go forward.
“So I think that’s where we’re at. I’m excited about it.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2025 at 3:20 PM.
