News on the Accurso’s move

By CHARLES FERRUZZA

Die-hard fans of Joe Accurso’s cozy Italian joint at 50th and Main keep asking me about the place. They know it’s moving, but the idea sends some of them into a panic. John in Prairie Village writes: “Is it still open? When is it moving to the new location?”

Don’t worry, John. Accurso’s is still open. It won’t move — to that new building still under construction a block north — until after the holidays. Accurso plans a soft opening in January.

I’ve always loved the old brick building that’s been Accurso’s home for 24 years. I’ve also heard the story that there’s been a restaurant on that spotat 5044 Main Street since 1905. Curious about that fact (after all, the nearby Country Club Plaza only dates back to 1922), I once pored through several City Directories dating back to the early 1900s and couldn’t find a reference to a restaurant on this site.

Joe has done a little research of his own and knows the building was around as far back as the 1930s, because there was an honest-to-goodness Jewish delicatessen in the space (back when there were dozens of places like the century-old New York Bakery and Delicatessen, the last of its kind in Kansas City now).

But back to the new space…