Next Stop: Where we’ll be ordering in 2025
Photo Courtesy of Hank’s Garage and Grill
Spring is a time of new beginnings, and we’re all craving some new eats as we emerge from winter hibernation. Luckily, Kansas City has some upcoming spots we’re pretty excited about—from burgers and beers to Japanese cuisine, from perfectly chilled martinis to skeeball and slushies. Here are just a few of the restaurant openings we’re looking forward to in the coming months.
Hank’s Garage and Grill
Downtown Shawnee: 5801 Nieman Rd, Shawnee, KS 66203
Located just a few steps from cocktail faves Drastic Measures and Wild Child, Hank’s Garage and Grill aims to be a cornerstone of the rapidly growing downtown Shawnee food and beverage scene. Located in what used to be a six-bay auto repair shop, it boasts a huge space with a distinct look. With the same ownership as King G and Jim’s Alley Bar in the Crossroads Arts District, and boasting household Kansas City names like Howard Hanna, Zac Sachs, and Eric Simbeck developing the food and drink menus, it has a strong pedigree to back up the team’s lofty ambitions.
Eric Flanagan—the owner of Hank’s Garage and Grill—calls it his most ambitious project yet. When it’s operating at full capacity, including a large yard and patio space, Hank’s will have space for over 200 guests. Flanagan also has a few exciting food and drink options planned, outside of what you’d normally expect from a bar and grill.
Hank’s Garage and Grill will feature some standard bar fare, including burgers, hot dogs, and pork tenderloin sandwiches (Flanagan’s favorite)—though if you’ve eaten at King G or Jim’s Alley Bar, you know that even ‘standard’ dishes are still top quality and punch above their price point. The food offering Flanagan is most excited about is one you might not see coming: homemade pasta. He told us, “We’ll be offering pasta on a limited, first-come-first-served basis.” It may not be what you’d expect from a bar and grill, but it will certainly help Hank’s stand out in a crowded field.
Also helping Hank’s Garage and Grill stand out will be its on-point bar program. Like its sister concepts, all the bar ingredients, sodas, tonics, and juices will be prepared onsite. The cocktail program will feature a lot of bright, refreshing, and spritzy cocktails to help fit the overall theme of the space, sitting alongside plenty of other drink options.
Look for Hank’s Garage and Grill to open up this summer, and get ready to spend a lot of warm KC nights on the patio.
Gilda’s Bar De Tapas
Downtown Shawnee: 5815 Nieman Rd, Shawnee, KS 66203
If you don’t feel like housing a pork tenderloin sandwich, you could always pop next door for some shareable options. Gilda’s Bar De Tapas also plans on opening their doors within just a few months, and it hopes to bring a little taste of Spain to its downtown Shawnee location.
If the name didn’t tip you off, Gilda’s will specialize in small, shareable plates, perfect for letting everyone at your table get a sampling of several menu items. Though a full menu isn’t available yet, Gilda’s has put out a slow-drip release of several food and drink options on their social media pages—and everything looks unique and delicious.
There’s cod brandade—a classic Catalan dish made of salt cod, olive oil, potatoes, and cream. It’s whipped into a smooth, spreadable emulsion and then topped with roasted red peppers or, if you’re feeling a little extra, caviar. Craving a vegetarian option? Salmorejo is a good choice—a chilled tomato soup, thickened with bread, that’s finished with olive oil and toasted croutons. There are Spanish olives and charcuterie on the menu and, of course, the Gilda itself: a little skewered bite consisting of pickled pepper, olive, and anchovy.
Of course, all those salty snacks won’t go down easily without some drinks alongside them. We don’t know much about Gilda’s bar program yet, but it’s a safe bet to guess they’ll have some Spanish wines to enjoy, and we know of one of their signature cocktails: A classic martini, served with a gilded Gilda garnish—if you’re keeping score, that’s that skewered bite we mentioned above, topped with edible gold leaf. Bottoms up!
We weren’t lying when we said downtown Shawnee was the new hotness. Look for Gilda’s to open its doors in late spring or early summer—perfect timing to enjoy a chilled martini on a warm Kansas City evening.
The Commons at Cinder Block Brewery
Photo Courtesy of The Commons
North Kansas City: 110 E 18th Ave, North Kansas City, MO 64116
Cinder Block Brewery in North Kansas City has long been one of Kansas City’s favorite brewery spots, and a new addition might be tipping the scales even further. The Commons is that upcoming addition: It’s a 5,000 square foot space, connected to the existing Cinder Block Brewery location. The menu and general theme give off vibes of vintage National Park PSAs, so it looks like an ideal place to start a weekend adventure—or to set up camp for an all-day get-together with friends.
The Commons will feature a full bar, including several on-tap cocktails, mocktails, and guest beers, with a strong emphasis on locally-made spirits and beers. They’ll even have a selection of slushies on hand.
Chandler Hottenstein—Cinder Block Brewery’s Operations Manager—is excited to use the space to shine a spotlight on other local products, outside of Cinder Block’s own beers. “The cool thing about this addition is that you can pass through both spaces with drinks and food from either side and literally go block to block with drinks in hand,” she says.
In addition to taps from several local breweries, The Commons will also play host to one of the best sandwich joints in town. Bay Boy Specialty Sandwiches will serve as a permanent, in-house kitchen, slinging a “greatest hits” menu of their delicious sandwiches to help you soak up those pints, with plans to create a few location-exclusive sandwiches down the line. If you’ve never experienced Bay Boy, you’re in for a treat—Their sandwiches are packed with interesting flavors and served on Dutch crunch bread for an absolutely irresistible meal.
A huge section of the space at The Commons will be covered in turf, and there will be a number of yard games to play. In addition, you’ll find skeeball, shuffleboard, pool tables, darts, and more. They plan on opening their doors mid-spring, and we plan on being there on day one to enjoy a pint of Pavers Porter and a Goldilox sandwich.
Anjin
Image Courtesy of Anjin
Downtown Kansas City: 1708 Oak St, Kansas City, MO 64108
The Antler Room has been one of Kansas City’s top restaurants since opening its doors about eight years ago. Owners Leslie and Nick Goellner—who also serves as The Antler Room’s head chef—are ready to broaden their horizons, and are looking to do just that with their new concept: Anjin.
Located at 17th and Oak, Anjin will be a lively space with Japanese flavors serving as the backbone. The concept for Anjin is based on an izakaya—a casual Japanese bar—and will have a streamlined menu of food and drinks that sound like they’ll be ideal for after-work hangouts. Even though the foundation is Japanese, Leslie tells us that they aren’t confining themselves to those flavors alone. “The menu will be small, with some staple items that never change, plus some daily and weekly specials,” she says.
Some of those staple items include handmade udon (thick, wheat-flour noodles), yakitori (grilled chicken skewers), okonomiyaki (savory pancakes), and soft-serve ice cream. The bar program will focus on sake, and the team is hoping to bring in some bottles that are difficult to find elsewhere in the city. They’ll also have a selection of beers, wines, and cocktails with an emphasis on Japanese spirits.
Outside of the unique menu, the draw of Anjin is the inviting layout. The restaurant will consist of about twenty seats, all at the counter and surrounding the bar and food prep space. The hope is to encourage conversation and interaction, not only with the friends you stop in with but with other guests and the staff.
“We love the restaurant culture in Japan,” Leslie says. “Our guiding principle has always been to serve the type of food we want to eat, to pour the drinks we want to drink, and to create spaces we would be comfortable visiting. We are opening this style of restaurant because it’s the type of place we wish we could eat at.”
The team at Anjin is excited about how fast things are moving forward, and they believe the space will be ready to open this May at the latest.
There are plenty of exciting openings coming to Kansas City this spring and summer, but these four are spots you’ll definitely want to have on your radar. Get out and support your local bars and restaurants, and help keep our food and drink scene alive and thriving!
