Ryan Maybee on the allure of downtown and the scene at Pierpont’s

Ryan Maybee’s world is all of four city blocks — the Crossroads streets that surround the Rieger Hotel Grill & Exchange. It’s early on a Monday morning when Maybee takes a break from packing his suitcase, crosses Main Street and steps inside the restaurant that he runs with chef Howard Hanna.

“When I consider a visit to Westport or the Plaza as a vacation, I probably need to get out a bit more,” Maybee jokes.

Later that afternoon, he will depart for a proper vacation, a weeklong trip to Oaxaca, Mexico, to learn about the many properties of mescal. Kansas City drinkers can expect to find a number of mescal-inspired cocktails on the Rieger menu and at Manifesto, the speakeasy that he runs in the restaurant’s basement.