Ryan Brazeal’s Novel idea
When chef Ryan Brazeal’s new restaurant opens – tentatively in April – at 815 West 17th Street, it will mark a literary turning point in Kansas City’s restaurant history: There will be a restaurant called Story in Prairie Village and Brazeal’s Novel in the Crossroads. If only Webster House would change the name of the second-floor bar from the Library to Webster’s Dictionary, Kansas City would be the last word in places where diners could become both well-fed and well-read.
But 36-year-old Brazeal points out that his use of the word Novel isn’t as a noun but as an adjective. You know, like taking a a novel approach to an old concept – which, in fact, he’s doing with the funny old house that was formerly occupied by the eccentric restaurant known as Lill’s on 17th. (Lill’s may have been better-known to a large contingent of Kansas City diners for its liberal “bring your dogs to our patio” policy than it was for its food.)
Brazeal isn’t sure where he stands on dogs at Novel: “Let’s just say I won’t be as dog-friendly as Lill’s had been, but they won’t be banned from the patio.”
