What Restaurant Should You Try in the New Year Based On Your Resolution?
This year, make a resolution you can’t wait to keep. Food Editor Grace Pritchett suggests twelve local restaurants based on your New Year’s goals.
@foxandpearlkc
You Want To...Be More Conscious of the Environment
Sure, you recycle. And compost. And you use cloth shopping bags but being more conscious of the environment in your community is just as important as doing it at home. Whether that’s how the source their menu or how they operate their restaurants, these spots make it easier to help save the turtles.
@thefarmhousekc
@gdfcreamery
The Farmhouse (300 Delaware St) is farm-to-table, tip-to-tail, and supportive of local farmers. Add in the fact that they make their own stocks, sauces, ketchup, seasonal cocktail syrups, purées & shrubs for their already seasonally-inspired comfort food menus and you have a win.
The Chive Simply Good Cafe & Market (14501 White Ave) is farm-to-table, vegetable-forward, and has a menu that changes based on seasonal offerings and whatever the local farmers have dropped off that week. Take advantage of their weekly basket program for homemade meals in returnable and reusable containers.
Green Dirt Farm Creamery (1099 Welt St) focuses on creating the highest quality artisan cheeses with humane animal practices, flavorful milk, and healthy soil, which results in products that change with the season and are more unique than anything you can get in the grocery store.
You Want To...Support Local Businesses
There are so many noteworthy local businesses in Kansas City worth your support and patronage, and I would encourage you to pay attention to your neighborhood spots. That being said, these restaurants are my favorites to support in town because I appreciate what they’re doing for our community and I think they make some damn good food.
@kcpoio
Fox & Pearl (2143 Summit St) gets my vote for their local and seasonal menu, their inspirational space, their handcrafted cocktails, and their natural wine list. The team at Fox & Pearl is dedicated to their craft and it shines through in everything they do.
Brookside Poultry Company (408 E 63rd St) regularly shows up on my recommendation list because they brine their fried chicken in sour cream for 48 hours. I could just leave it at that but the whole menu is full of southern side dishes and no-fuss comfort food. Don’t forget to save room for pie.
Poi-õ (1000 W 25th St) was that restaurant that everyone in the local food industry told me to try before I went there, and I find that to be the sign of a good restaurant. The fast-casual vibe and flavorful food has brought me back more times than I can count. Come for the wood-fired chicken, stay for the kimchi fried rice.
You Want To...Prioritize Your Health
Your health is your health and I shy away from any resolutions that would reduce health to calories, pounds, inches, or sizes. These restaurants focus on food that tastes good and is good for you, making prioritizing your health an easy resolution to keep.
@piratesboneburgers
Unbakery and Juicery. Photo by Anna Petrow
Enjoy Pure Food + Drink (10573 Mission Rd) was founded on the idea that success starts with the food we eat and real, healthy food can contribute to that. Their plant-forward menu is full of healthy and tasty items, including salads, juices, and handcrafted cocktails.
Unbakery & Juicery (634 E 63rd St) specializes in raw and unprocessed foods and juices, as well as coffee drinks, smoothies, and health tonics. Their expansion from salads and poké bowls to pastries, waters, and breakfast items has been mindful and delicious every step of the way.
Pirate’s Bone Burgers (2000 Main St) started as a small coffee shop before introducing a vegan menu and reopening as a plant-forward burger restaurant in the Crossroads. This new focus has brought a much-needed vegan restaurant to Kansas City, with burgers, hot dogs, fries, and more.
You Want To...Become a Morning Person
Hands up for my fellow morning people! If you’re looking to be a little more awake by the time you leave the house, check out these early-rising coffee shops for something worth getting out of bed for.
@messengercoffee
@secondbestcoffee
Messenger Coffee (1624 Grand Blvd) is exactly where I would wake up every day if the owners only let me spend the night. The bright white three-story coffee shop and bakery is a must-try for anyone who just doesn’t like mornings. I have a feeling one sip of their drinks will change your mind.
Heirloom Bakery & Hearth (401 E 63rd St) practically invented morning people in the Brookside area, or that’s what you’ll believe when you see how long the lines are for their homemade pastries, specialty coffee drinks, and biscuit sandwiches. Show up early for a good seat or take it to go and snag an extra cheddar chive biscuit for the road, you’ll thank me.
Second Best Coffee (328 W 85th St) is an espresso-centric slow bar with midwestern modesty that keeps them striving for the best of the best. Get there early for breakfast burritos, specialty coffee drinks, and a seat at the window.
