Anton Kotar opening a new butcher shop and restaurant on Main Street
You’ve probably been wondering — as I have, for a couple of months — what the hell was going on in the 122-year-old building at 1610 Main. It has had a long and interesting history, particularly over the last three decades when it operated as Irene’s Restaurant and Lounge (“The last of the three-martini lunches in Kansas City took place at Irene’s,” says a former regular); and then the Cajun-inspired Danny’s Big Easy restaurant; and then Daddy’s Backdoor Bar, a saloon “for bears, leathermen and white- and blue-collared guys,” according to one gay travel website.
There has been a lot of construction going on in the building since autumn, and the old sign — the one with the giant arrow that dates back to at least the Irene’s era, if not before — is being renovated. All the sign needs right now is a name for restaurateur Anton Kotar’s new concept. Kotar has been tinkering with just calling the place Anton’s when the combination butcher shop, saloon and full-service restaurant opens in mid-March.
“But wasn’t there another restaurant called Anton’s on Southwest Boulevard?” he asked.
That had been, decades ago, Antoine’s on the Boulevard, I told him. I have a copy of that restaurant’s menu (it was located in the building currently occupied by Rhythm & Booze at 423 Southwest Boulevard), which states that the restaurant was “Tony’s Also Known As Antoine’s on the Boulevard … House of Watermelons.” House of watermelons?
