Kolache Factory: Czech, please

Gary Goyer’s all about kolaches

​In a different time and place, a bakery in downtown Kansas City, Kansas — which once had a large Eastern European community — might have been the logical place to find a kolache in the metro. Today, that requires a trip into the suburbs.

A kolache is a yeast bun traditionally baked with a sweet filling like poppy seed, jam or fruit. The pastry, which is part of both the Polish and Czech culinary traditions, is known as kolache (pronounced ko-lah-chee) and kolacky (pronounced ko-lah-kee) or kolach, according to Gary Goyer, who has operated a franchise of the Houston-based Kolache Factory for the last four years at 7112 West 135th Street in Overland Park.

At first glance, the inside of Goyer’s shop looks like an all-American doughnut shop, with back-lit shelves and trays of sweet and savory buns. And yes, Goyer’s shop sells thickly iced cinnamon rolls like a doughnut shop. But that’s where the similarity ends.