Opening Soon: Adam’s Rib Barbecue

OK, we all know that when a restaurateur says his or her new establishment is going to open “soon,” that really means “in this decade.”

But the hard-working Hope Loehr has been working around-the-clock inside the building — a former Pizza Hut — at 9148 Santa Fe Drive in Overland Park to make sure her new business, Adam’s Rib Original KC Barbecue, really opens later this month.

If the name sounds familiar, it’s because Loehr (former manager at Hayward’s Barbecue and the New Theatre Restaurant) had another barbecue, with the same name, back in the 1994. That was in Overland Park too. But Loehr thinks this new location, the former home of a saloon called J. Barleycorn, is the right one. It’s on a major east-west artery in Johnson County and, even better, it’s right next to a Quik-Trip! Loehr’s theory? Customers stop for gas and a lottery ticket, stay for a brisket burger!