Mission Taco Joint headed to the Crossroads from St. Louis
When the soccer-loving Tilford brothers, chef Jason and businessman Adam — successful restaurant operators in St. Louis — were in Kansas City last year for a Sporting Kansas City game, they took a spin through the Crossroads Arts District. The burgeoning East Crossroads neighborhood, fast becoming a mecca for local breweries, caught their eye.
Now the Tilfords are negotiating a lease for a building in that area (they won’t reveal the address until the deal is done) for one of their three Mexican-restaurant brands, the Mission Taco Joint. There are two of those in St. Louis — but don’t call them Mexican restaurants.
“We call our cuisine Mexicali because we were inspired by restaurants in the Mission District of San Francisco,” Adam Tilford says. “Mission Taco Joint is really a bar with a good cocktail program and selection of craft beers that also serves tacos.
“There’s nothing like this in the Crossroads,” he adds, “or anyplace else in Kansas City.”
These aren’t traditional tacos, Adam Tilford says, which is why he doesn’t think it’s a crazy idea to open a restaurant not far from Southwest Boulevard’s popular family-owned restaurants and taquerias. The selection of 10 featured tacos includes such ingredients as chili-roasted duck, crisp pork-belly carnitas, avocado serrano sauce, and wood-fire-grilled-pineapple pico de gallo. Among the appetizers: huitlacoche empanadas and carne asada fries (traditional french fries dusted with chili powder and topped with grilled flank steak, Chihuahua cheese, guacamole, crema and pico de gallo).
The two brothers, both in their early 40s, are now officially out of the soccer-pub business; Jason Tilford sold his popular 11-year-old Barrister’s Pub last month to a young couple, Sam and Kristie Boctor. “He wanted to focus exclusively on our other restaurant concepts,” Adam Tilford says. “Barrister’s needed more of an owner presence to be there every day. The Boctors will be a good fit.”
The Tilfords’ Mission Taco Joint in the Crossroads would keep its kitchen open until 12:30 a.m. for late-night drinkers who need a snack before hitting the road. “We’ll do the same late-night happy hour that we do in St. Louis,” Adam Tilford says. “All tacos after 10 p.m. are $2 each. We often run a wait for tables after 10.”
