Recent Stories by Joyce Smith
KC grocery chain launches discount store as food prices rise, customers demand value
ChopMore! will offer quality meats, triple-inspected fresh produce, a variety of deli selections and hot foods, top-tier national brands, high-quality but value-based private labels, and bakery goods. “What we promise is — when you walk out the door you are going to save money,” said John Cosentino.
Tiki Taco’s just-opened location is getting new neighbors in East Crossroads: an oyster bar and cowgirl refuge
This half city block of the East Crossroads — in Andy Surface’s family since the mid-1880s — has been a witness to change through the decades as Kansas City’s fortunes have risen and fallen with trends of the day. A newest location for a local taco chain is just the first link in a resurgence...
Popular family chain opening elevated Mexican concept in Oak Park Mall’s former Five Guys, American Girl spots
Añejo Modern Mexican already had two area restaurants when it expanded with a downtown location this summer. Now it’s reopening in Johnson County in early 2027 thanks to an opportunity at one of the metro’s most iconic retail centers.
Century-old corner reopens as boutique hotel with echoes of art deco, hints of Disney history
Already a downtown landmark in its own right, a building near the Jackson County Courthouse that might’ve housed one of Walt Disney’s first art studios is now an 84-room boutique hotel that its redevelopers are calling a “labor of love.”
Here’s how a rebooted Westport favorite plans to earn its ‘Best Burger in KC’ banner
Fans of Westport’s longtime Green Room Burgers & Beer and Westport Coffeehouse Theater feared new owners would “corporatize it,” subdivide the space, or even tear down the well-positioned corner for condos at the edge for the entertainment district. But after Matt and Tessa Ortiz experienced the scene as customers, they only wanted the neighborhood mainstay…
Restaurateurs at Parlor KC ‘completely shocked’ by food hall’s planned closure
With just four days’ notice — and sitting on thousands of dollars in perishable food inventory — a half-dozen entrepreneurs with kitchens at Parlor KC said they were blindsided this week by a social media post announcing the food hall’s final hours.
Mi Ranchito founder opens upscale cantina; it’s the first to bear his name, an American Dream come true
Rulber De La Torre spent months remodeling the former Another Broken Egg Cafe space in Prairie Village for an upscale version of his Mi Ranchito Cocina & Cantina Mexicana with a smaller menu and more grilled items.
Reuben dogs in the rough: Crossroads Golf adds ‘craft-forward’ dining, drinks to neighborhood indoor golf
Crossroads Golf is more than a blending of cocktail culture with Crossroads vibes, owners of the new sports entertainment venue said. The 4,000-square-foot space — which technically sits just inside Westside — is meant to be a boundary-hopping mesh of neighborhoods.
Feast for five senses: DJ-curated ‘fast fine’ Italian spot set to be first tenant for $35M Plaza development
A crowd-pleasing modern Italian restaurant — which takes customers from happy hour to high-energy dinner to live DJ-curated late nights — is coming to the Country Club Plaza.
Mersea founders kept their sea legs; now they’re setting sail with the brand’s first storefront
More than a dozen years after it was founded, Lenexa-based Mersea has its first celebrity and designer collaborations, as well as a new pop-up on the Country Club Plaza — its first brick-and-mortar store.