Bay Bros
For the next four months, Chingu Coffee Co. and Bay Boy Sandwiches are pop-up inside a historic former school on 39th Street. The pop-up at Plexpod Westport Commons (300 E 39th St., KCMO) is a temporary home for the new collaboration as they build a future shared space in the West Plaza.
Chingu’s cafe menu includes both poured drinks and espresso drinks with homemade syrups. They will also make pastries. Bay Boy offers a smaller version of their menu.
“Like many coffee shops in KC, we roast everything ourselves,” says Chingu’s Keeyoung Kim. “We carefully curate our coffee menu with beans from around the world with our friends at Anthem Coffee Imports. We have homemade syrups that you usually see around town, but we also plan to infuse some fun Korean flavors into our syrups. We’re baking all of our desserts in-house, including classic pastries like homemade blueberry muffins, but we also plan to make some fun takes on classics like scones with kimchi, bacon, gruyere, and shallots.
Voo did
The cocktail lounge at Mariott’s Muehlebach Hotel has been dormant since the early 1980s. It has now finally been restored under new ownership, resulting in the elegant Voo Lounge (1214 Baltimore Ave., KCMO), which opened to the public on February 10.
The hotel originally opened in 1915, and while the lounge’s restoration has brought the space back to life, it’s still reminiscent of the Prohibition era with its dim lighting, emerald green velvet chairs, and deep mahogany wood and accents. gold accents.
Patrons can enjoy a handcrafted cocktail menu curated by general manager Allison Korn, who previously created cocktail menus for Char Bar, Meat Mitch, Port Fonda, and others. Her menu for Voo is made up of riffs on the classics. For example, the popular Bee’s Knees cocktail is infused with saffron and a matcha sour is topped with a toasted orange blossom meringue. The food menu is filled with small bites like Cajun deviled eggs, fig and bacon flatbread, and house-made salsas.
Entertainment will be provided each evening by Will O’Keefe, a singer and pianist who has played in local piano bars for the past decade.
On board
Husband and wife duo Sarah Nelson and Louis Guerrieri spent years cutting their teeth in the Denver food scene before relocating to Kansas City. Both have years of experience under their belts: Louis’ background is in sushi and butchery while Sarah specializes in pastry. When they returned to Kansas City, they both worked at the Golden Ox and Louis helped open Fox and Pearl. The couple now run Ombra (4161 N. Mulberry Dr., KCMO), which opened late last year at The Village at Briarcliff. It focuses on globally influenced small plates and tapas.
The name is a nod to the Italian phrase “dame un’ombra”, a common saying meaning “let’s drink some wine”. The wine and cocktail menus are different and will change as frequently as the food menu. The dishes are meant to be shared and explored among companions. Customers can expect flavors from all over the world, from Taiwanese dishes to Northern European specialities.
The special nose-to-tail butcher program will showcase the traditional charcuterie board in a different way than Kansas City is used to. “Instead of making a charcuterie board where the ham and salami is very predictable, we’re making lamb belly, sausages, terrines and pates,” says Sarah. “We’re trying to expand people’s idea of what a charcuterie board can be.”
Pasta La Vista
The owners of Mexican restaurant Mi Ranchito have opened a new Italian concept at The Fountains mall in Overland Park, reports The Kansas City Star.
Nico & Ana’s Italian Street Food (6541 W. 119th St., Overland Park) is named after owner Armando Dela Torre’s late parents. The menu is classic Italian with lasagna, carbonara, linguine and fried calamari.
Tea
Kansas City has no shortage of serious coffee shops, but tea has fallen behind a bit. Savoy Tea Co. of Arkansas is filling that niche with two stores in KC, including a new Crossroads location to go with their store at Lenexa City Center. The new Savoy held its grand opening in late January and is now pouring one hundred and forty different loose teas, including a sought-after twenty-five-year-old pu’er. The shop is run by a master tea blender, the industry equivalent of a master sommelier.
