Plaza’s Ingredient closed, will reopen as República

Last Friday, the employees at the fast-casual Ingredient restaurant at 4807 Jefferson on the Country Club Plaza were given a brusque announcement that the five-year-old venue was closing — immediately.

This morning, Bread & Butter Concepts — the local restaurant chain that operates Gram & Dun, Urban Table, BRGR and Taco Republic — announced that it had signed a lease for 4807 Jefferson and plans to turn the venue into República, serving Spanish-inspired cuisine.

The new restaurant will open in late summer.

Last year, Bread & Butter Concepts acquired three Ingredient restaurants: the downtown Kansas City venue, the one in the Park Place development in Leawood and one in Columbia. “We did not acquire the Ingredient on the Plaza,” says Tara Van Loenen, vice president of marketing for Bread & Butter Concepts, “so I can’t speak to the way that the restaurant was closed last week.”

Van Loenen says demolition on the interior of 4807 Jefferson will begin next week and that República will utilize only the street-level section of the building. “We’ll use the basement level for storage and offices,” she says.

The new restaurant will offer sit-down service featuring, she says, locally sourced and house-made ingredients.