Fare Thee Well Bar Natasha

BY OWEN MORRIS

Last I had heard about Bar Natasha, the bar-cum-cabaret at 1911 Main, it was being shopped around to potential buyers for a little over $100,000. Owned by JD Mann, who also serves as vice president of the restaurant organization KC Originals and actress/singer/all-around-performer Missy Koonce, Bar Natasha was modeled after performer lounges on the East Coast, especially New York’s Don’t Tell Mama.

But a restaurant for sale is never a sign that business is booming. And because it hasn’t found a buyer, Bar Natasha is slated to close on September 20.

Bar Natasha had a good run, coming on the Crossroads bar scene in 2003 as First Fridays were really becoming mainstream and playing an important part of this city’s cabaret revival. For a while, Bar Natasha was the “it” bar in Kansas City. As The Pitch’sJen Chen wrote in a 2004 Night Ranger column, “The hype about Bar Natasha is justified … our friend Steve had been there earlier that night for happy hour, and he reported that it was packed. It was still hopping when we got there around 10.”

But as the economy grew worse, light-hearted cabaret seemed somewhat frivolous and the competition surrounding Bar Natasha is now a lot stiffer than it was in 2004. Plus, as the KC Beer Blog points out, the food and drinks were never anything to write home about.

There’s no word about what building owners Jeff and Diane Alpert plan to do with the soon-to-be empty 5000 square feet of space.