The Beacon takes over former Jack Gage restaurant in April
For a hot minute, Whitten Pell considered calling the restaurant he’s opening — with a group of investors — Whit’s End.
“But then I realized I might be making a prophesy about the future that I didn’t want to imagine,” Pell says.
So when the new bar and grill opens in April at 5031 Main, in the space formerly occupied by Jack Gage American Tavern, it will be called the Beacon: a Kansas City Tavern. It was just a year ago that Jack Gage — owned by Blair and Russ Hurst — filed bankruptcy and closed soon afterward. Things like this happen to restaurant owners who don’t pay the rent.
I met with Whit today in the restaurant, where the dining rooms are undergoing a very dramatic cosmetic makeover. The creamy yellow walls are being painted a shade of cool slate, and the once-dark woodwork is now painted over — in charcoal gray. The boxing memorabilia surrounding the bar — depicting British boxer Jack Gage — were removed a long time ago. Pell, a former concert promoter and producer, left Kansas City in the 1980s to work in New York, Los Angeles and Dallas. (He returned in 2006 after marrying his wife, Nancy, the owner of the Perfect Scents shop.) He’s very excited about opening a new venue in the location. He’s looking for a kitchen manager and a general manager for the Beacon, but he plans to be at the venue every day and every night.
Oh, did I mention that he’s never worked in a restaurant a day in his life?
