Brisket sandwiches at a gas station barbecue spot approved by Anthony Bourdain, hefty burritos from a James Beard-winning tortilleria, elote-flavored kakigori at a cocktail hotspot, and more of Kansas City’s best meals
To many, Kansas City will always be a cowtown. The city’s culinary scene was largely defined by the Black pitmasters that established its barbecue traditions and the cattle ranchers that thronged the Kansas City Stockyards (the second-largest in the country after Chicago). Barbecue, burgers, and butchery are still a critical part of the restaurant scene. But the city’s palate has never felt broader than it does right now, thanks to a flurry of experimentation and innovation. Today, you’re as likely to stumble across a hand-pulled noodle shop or a vegan lunch counter as a brisket sandwich.
The uniting feature of Kansas City’s dining scene isn’t a single ingredient or style of cuisine, but an inclusive Midwestern hospitality that infuses even the most stately dining rooms with a little warmth and whimsy. Dress for dinner if you’d like, but no one’s going to fuss if you forgo the white collar for something more casual (and less vulnerable to barbecue sauce stains). Whether you’re touring the high-end tasting rooms in downtown KCMO or the casual carnicerias in KCK, every restaurant makes sure you feel right at home.
Liz Cook is a restaurant critic for The Pitch and writer of the experimental food newsletter Haterade.
While a bit of a drive from the city center, the Italian Sausage Company is a necessary pilgrimage for any lover of carefully crafted Italian deli sandwiches (cold or hot). Try the No. 7 — a panoply of Italian meats and cheeses teetering dangerously on a plush, seeded loaf — or the No. 22, featuring pastrami, salami, red-wine-infused olives, and local chili oil made by J. Chang Kitchen.
Brunching at this cozy Columbus Park spot feels like eating in a good friend’s kitchen. The cafe has a charming retro vibe with a compact menu that will nonetheless appeal to fans of both greasy-spoon classics and multigrain avocado toasts.
Executive chef Johnny Leach and executive pastry chef Helen Jo Leach may be coastal transplants, but the husband-and-wife team are already local institutions. Tucked inside the Hotel Kansas City, the Town Company feels glamorous but warm, with easygoing cocktails and wood-fired dishes showcasing Midwestern ingredients. Even the dinner rolls are made with local Marion Milling flour produced from heirloom Kansas wheat. Request a seat at the chef’s counter and marvel at the staff’s calm and precise cooking over a wood-burning hearth.
Moody walls, lush landscapes, and a copper bar give the Campground’s dining room a rustic but stylish vibe (think: summer camp as envisioned by a Hollywood set dresser). Plenty of patio seating and a casual outdoor bar extend the campsite feeling beyond the dining room too. Craft cocktails are the focus here, but the compact dinner menu can sometimes steal the show. Come for the city’s best martini; stay for the pork collar and potato salad with fried egg aioli.
Lean into the city’s cowtown reputation at this faithfully restored 1949 steakhouse in the historic Stockyards District. The Golden Ox claims to be the birthplace of the Kansas City strip, but the menu’s packed with other midcentury steakhouse classics too, including plate-busting porterhouses, loaded baked potatoes, and dessert cocktails such as the Pink Squirrel.
This sunny retail store in Kansas City’s historically Latino Westside neighborhood was famous for its flavorful nixtamalized corn tortillas and supple Sonoran-style flour tortillas long before it won the James Beard Foundation’s outstanding bakery award in 2023. Sample a pork-fat flour tortilla hot off the press while you shop for bracing chiltepin salsas, hefty takeout burritos, and freezer-ready tamales using Yoli’s signature masa.
“Eclectic” might be the best descriptor for a restaurant that’s part Istanbul, part Long Island, and embedded in a quirky duplex in a historically Latino neighborhood of Kansas City. The menu is a collaboration between Turkish restaurateur Orcan Yigit and longtime KC pizza chef Brent Gunnels. Expect enough mezze to make the table groan, tender kebabs, and a bubbly, chewy grandma pizza.
Every morning, workers in the urban core flock to Mildred’s, a family-owned cafe, for specialty coffee and the Standard Breakfast Sandwich: bacon and swiss with pillowy steamed eggs and a bright pepper-dijon mayo. If you can’t beat the morning rush, you can still score biscuits and gravy or a vegan breakfast hash all day long. Although Mildred’s has two locations, the Wyandotte Street cafe is cozy and close to attractions in the Crossroads Arts District.
Choose your own adventure at this chic Crossroads restaurant. You can stop by the Supper Club to share fried chicken and seaweed donuts with friends while listening to live music (check the restaurant’s website to see who’s playing). Or you can go for the Tasting Room to get up close and personal with chef Michael Corvino through 10-plus courses of elegant and innovative bites (wine pairings are available courtesy of sommelier Christina Corvino).
Build a multicourse feast of small plates showcasing local produce in this sleek and stylish dining room in the Crossroads Arts District. Don’t miss the housemade pastas (if ramen is on the menu, it’s mandatory) and elegant desserts. The menu changes with the seasons, but the Duroc pork chop and duck neck agnolotti are fixtures for a reason.
High up on the list of iconic KC experiences is ending a bar crawl at Town Topic for a smashburger and tots. The classic American diner has fueled the city’s night owls for 75 years, serving up diner breakfasts, chili dogs, and chocolate malts 24 hours a day. Tame a hangover with a Haystack: a classic bacon-and-egg sandwich gilded with a layer of cheesy hashbrowns.
Any trip down the Kansas City, Kansas, Taco Trail should feature a trip to Carniceria y Tortilleria San Antonio, a bustling neighborhood grocery with a first-rate lunch counter. Order tacos al pastor by the pair and dress them up to your heart’s content at the technicolor salsa bar.
Oysters, ceviche, and grilled fish are the stars at chef Carlos Falcon’s original Veracruzano restaurant. Stop in on the first Sunday of each month for El Bruncho, one of the best parties in town: an all-you-can eat brunch stacked with fresh seafood, golden-brown empanadas, and bottomless margaritas.
A butcher by trade, chef Vaughn Good continues to turn out excellent pates, cured meats, and chubby sausages cooked over the restaurant’s wood-fired hearth. Sneak downstairs after dinner to sample fun cocktails and funky wines in the lounge while staff spin their favorite records. At Sunday brunch, the restaurant transforms into Night Goat, a popular pop-up with some of the city’s best new-school barbecue.
Unfussy but refined, this intimate Hospital Hill restaurant has a fun, well-curated wine list and an ever-changing menu of inventive small plates that combine local ingredients with international influences. Think: a shrimp tostada with macadamia nut salsa macha or eggplant- and cashew-filled triangoli with curry butter and lime leaves.
This cramped diner on the east side has been famous since 1951 for its pork tenderloin sandwich, which has little in common with the thin, plate-sized cutlets popular in the Midwest. The tempura-breaded tenderloin here is modestly sized and piled into a three-ply stack for maximum crunch. Grab carryout or port your tenderloin to the small patio next door. Bring cash, and don’t let the line deter you; it moves fast.
Workers have flocked here for decades for generously stacked cold sandwiches and oversized baked goods. The mandatory order is the Hook ‘Em Up, a soft onion bun loaded with pepper beef, turkey ham, and both hot pepper and American cheese. Get your order in online before the lunch rush to snag one of the bakery’s enormous, cuddly soft apple fritters.
Lovers of big, beautiful salads won’t do better than the Russell, where wood-fired meats and vegetables are arranged into painterly compositions. Order online for an easy carryout lunch, but don’t ignore the pastry case: The oatmeal cream pie is a local favorite.
Expect to hear “Hi, may I help you?” shouted like one compound word the second you step through the doors of one of the city’s oldest continuously operating barbecue spots. If you need a second to consider your order, just ask — but you can’t go wrong with the Nooner, a bun piled with both thin-sliced brisket and chopped burnt ends. Gates is a local chain with a few locations, but the Main Street restaurant has a relaxed vibe and space to sprawl, with something new to discover in each corner.
Chef Cherven Desauguste and co-owner Mehret Tesfamariam marry Caribbean and Ethiopian flavors at this elegant Midtown spot with an extensive rum list. Try the pan-fried conch with cilantro-lime pesto or the doro tibs with collards on a generous canvas of injera. The cocktail list is stacked with punches, sangrias, and tropical-inspired sippers.
A neighborhood mainstay, Westport Cafe pairs timeless design (checkerboard floor tiles, red velvet curtains) with a frequently refreshed menu that embraces — but isn’t confined by — classic French culinary traditions. Sure, you can get a very good croque-madame here. But you can also order barbajuan (chard-stuffed and fried ravioli) or steak tartare brightened with pickled strawberries and leche de tigre.
Champagne and other sparkling wines are the focus at this romantic Westport wine bar with a cute patio. But the small open kitchen also puts out first-rate bar bites such as shoestring fries, deviled eggs with caviar, and gruyere and raclette fondue. A more substantial, French-inspired menu is available during Sunday brunch.
Chef Katie Liu-Sung blends dishes from her native Taiwan with Midwestern ingredients and influences in this energetic midtown restaurant with a creative (and illustrated) cocktail list. Start with the beef-kimchi dumplings and pliant gua bao before moving onto Taiwanese beef noodle soup with beef shank, pickled mustard greens, and a chile bomb. For a more formal experience, book one of the restaurant’s Stray Kat dinners, which feature a 10-plus-course Taiwanese tasting menu.
Anthony Bourdain famously named Kansas City’s iconic gas station barbecue spot as one of his “13 places to eat before you die.” Order a slab of ribs or the Z-Man: a pile of lean, thin-sliced brisket topped with smoked provolone, fried onion rings, and the sweet-hot sauce that typifies KC barbecue. Dine-in space is limited, and lines run out the door at peak times; locals call in their orders to-go and skip the wait.
The king-sized Buffalo wings are the main draw here, but Kansas City’s oldest continuously operating bar and grill also scores points with cheap beer, iconic dive bar ambience, and a comforting cheddar BLT.
“Upscale but playful” is the vibe in this light-filled modern restaurant with quirky decor and a wide-ranging menu. New England native chef Linda Duerr makes a predictably good lobster roll with a lemon beurre blanc, but don’t skip her fresh pastas, which are structured around seasonal produce and foraged herbs. Lively cocktails and colorful desserts contribute to the fun, unstuffy feel.
Sip an ube daiquiri or spoon through feather-light, elote-flavored kakigori in this buoyant bar with caramel-colored booths, sunny floral accents, and loads of natural light. The drink menu is one of the most playful in the metro, featuring plenty of wines by the glass, fun carbonated cocktails, and low- or no-ABV drinks (including a Negroni that a blind taster wouldn’t guess was alcohol-free). The bar offers a few fun snacks (like popcorn dressed with mushroom powder and nutritional yeast) designed by the executive chef at the Campground (also on this list). Know before you go: Wild Child doesn’t have a back bar, so the options are strictly limited to the menu. For a wider selection, visit Drastic Measures, the sister bar next door that was a nominee for the James Beard Foundation’s outstanding bar award in 2023.
Although Earl’s opened in 2022, it’s already become a neighborhood fixture in East Brookside. Part of that has to do with the restaurant’s casual vibes and lived-in design, which lands somewhere between Maine oyster bar and Revolutionary War museum. Post up at the charming zinc bar to try a gargantuan shrimp cocktail, sip a frozen gin and tonic, and chat with the shuckers while they pile up the freshest oysters in town.
Sisters India Pernell and Arvelisha Woods have been convincing Cowtown carnivores to try their vegan comfort food since opening their first food truck in 2019. During the pandemic, they upgraded the truck into a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Brookside. Now, newly converted diners and long-time vegans can load up on seitan-studded nachos and sliced tofu “brisket” in a sunny yellow dining room with floral accents and plenty of natural light.
Harp Barbecue is a relative newcomer to the local barbecue scene, but that hasn’t kept founder Tyler Harp from topping local best-of lists and earning national praise for his thick-sliced, fatty brisket and creative homemade sausages. After operating as a pop-up for years, Harp moved into a permanent location at the end of 2022. The red-and-white sign on the building just says “barbecue” — deceptively humble branding for some of the city’s best smoked meats.
Kansas City barbecue meets Thai flavors and techniques in this casual Overland Park dining room. Pitmaster Teddy Liberda spent much of his early career in his family’s Thai restaurants, including Thai Diner in Lawrence, Kansas, which his mother, Ann Liberda, still runs. (Meanwhile, his wife, Pam Liberda, now helms the kitchen at Waldo Thai.) The butterscotch wings at Buck Tui are a local favorite, but leave room for velvety red curry burnt ends or a vegetal Isaan Thai sausage, the latter perfumed with lemongrass and makrut lime.
Waldo Thai is unique in the metro for its focus on northern Thai, or Lanna cuisine, and hip date-night atmosphere. Start with the nam prik orng, a richly spiced chili dip with ground pork, or the tum makheur, in which grilled eggplant and peppers are perfumed with fish sauce and mint. The restaurant’s cocktail menu changes frequently, and it’s always got a sense of humor (currently, the drinks are all named after pop songs).
While a bit of a drive from the city center, the Italian Sausage Company is a necessary pilgrimage for any lover of carefully crafted Italian deli sandwiches (cold or hot). Try the No. 7 — a panoply of Italian meats and cheeses teetering dangerously on a plush, seeded loaf — or the No. 22, featuring pastrami, salami, red-wine-infused olives, and local chili oil made by J. Chang Kitchen.
Brunching at this cozy Columbus Park spot feels like eating in a good friend’s kitchen. The cafe has a charming retro vibe with a compact menu that will nonetheless appeal to fans of both greasy-spoon classics and multigrain avocado toasts.
Executive chef Johnny Leach and executive pastry chef Helen Jo Leach may be coastal transplants, but the husband-and-wife team are already local institutions. Tucked inside the Hotel Kansas City, the Town Company feels glamorous but warm, with easygoing cocktails and wood-fired dishes showcasing Midwestern ingredients. Even the dinner rolls are made with local Marion Milling flour produced from heirloom Kansas wheat. Request a seat at the chef’s counter and marvel at the staff’s calm and precise cooking over a wood-burning hearth.
Moody walls, lush landscapes, and a copper bar give the Campground’s dining room a rustic but stylish vibe (think: summer camp as envisioned by a Hollywood set dresser). Plenty of patio seating and a casual outdoor bar extend the campsite feeling beyond the dining room too. Craft cocktails are the focus here, but the compact dinner menu can sometimes steal the show. Come for the city’s best martini; stay for the pork collar and potato salad with fried egg aioli.
Lean into the city’s cowtown reputation at this faithfully restored 1949 steakhouse in the historic Stockyards District. The Golden Ox claims to be the birthplace of the Kansas City strip, but the menu’s packed with other midcentury steakhouse classics too, including plate-busting porterhouses, loaded baked potatoes, and dessert cocktails such as the Pink Squirrel.
This sunny retail store in Kansas City’s historically Latino Westside neighborhood was famous for its flavorful nixtamalized corn tortillas and supple Sonoran-style flour tortillas long before it won the James Beard Foundation’s outstanding bakery award in 2023. Sample a pork-fat flour tortilla hot off the press while you shop for bracing chiltepin salsas, hefty takeout burritos, and freezer-ready tamales using Yoli’s signature masa.
“Eclectic” might be the best descriptor for a restaurant that’s part Istanbul, part Long Island, and embedded in a quirky duplex in a historically Latino neighborhood of Kansas City. The menu is a collaboration between Turkish restaurateur Orcan Yigit and longtime KC pizza chef Brent Gunnels. Expect enough mezze to make the table groan, tender kebabs, and a bubbly, chewy grandma pizza.
Every morning, workers in the urban core flock to Mildred’s, a family-owned cafe, for specialty coffee and the Standard Breakfast Sandwich: bacon and swiss with pillowy steamed eggs and a bright pepper-dijon mayo. If you can’t beat the morning rush, you can still score biscuits and gravy or a vegan breakfast hash all day long. Although Mildred’s has two locations, the Wyandotte Street cafe is cozy and close to attractions in the Crossroads Arts District.
Choose your own adventure at this chic Crossroads restaurant. You can stop by the Supper Club to share fried chicken and seaweed donuts with friends while listening to live music (check the restaurant’s website to see who’s playing). Or you can go for the Tasting Room to get up close and personal with chef Michael Corvino through 10-plus courses of elegant and innovative bites (wine pairings are available courtesy of sommelier Christina Corvino).
Build a multicourse feast of small plates showcasing local produce in this sleek and stylish dining room in the Crossroads Arts District. Don’t miss the housemade pastas (if ramen is on the menu, it’s mandatory) and elegant desserts. The menu changes with the seasons, but the Duroc pork chop and duck neck agnolotti are fixtures for a reason.
High up on the list of iconic KC experiences is ending a bar crawl at Town Topic for a smashburger and tots. The classic American diner has fueled the city’s night owls for 75 years, serving up diner breakfasts, chili dogs, and chocolate malts 24 hours a day. Tame a hangover with a Haystack: a classic bacon-and-egg sandwich gilded with a layer of cheesy hashbrowns.
Any trip down the Kansas City, Kansas, Taco Trail should feature a trip to Carniceria y Tortilleria San Antonio, a bustling neighborhood grocery with a first-rate lunch counter. Order tacos al pastor by the pair and dress them up to your heart’s content at the technicolor salsa bar.
Oysters, ceviche, and grilled fish are the stars at chef Carlos Falcon’s original Veracruzano restaurant. Stop in on the first Sunday of each month for El Bruncho, one of the best parties in town: an all-you-can eat brunch stacked with fresh seafood, golden-brown empanadas, and bottomless margaritas.
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