KCRag Forum

i'm imagining a small operation that would be open for coffee (with homemade pastries, but not a full breakfast) of a morning, have good lunch fare, and, though it would close around 2:00 p.m., it would be available for bands, small gatherings, etc. of an evening. 

what would you add/subtract to that, and why? 
where would you place said restaurant, ideally, and why?

add good lighting and locally-grown menu items using words like reduction, bisque, and chutney. i would place it on main street anywhere between union station and truman road (preferably new construction on an existing surface lot!). it could be available for bands, but not too-frequent appearances by annoying piano players. all restaurants should be required to be open for lunch and dinner, so i would subtract the early closing time.

My favorite element is one where the restaurant stays open past 2...especially if it's a limited menu coffee/bakery type setting. There are several spots around town i have yet to try only because their hours aren't very friendly to those of us who don't work in the loop. I'd love to see more places like this catering to the late night coffee / dessert crowd.
But I have to second Dave's recommendation on Local grown items (a la bluebird bistro), and especially local coffee (roasterie or broadway beans).  If music is going to happen, allow a spot for customers to step away to the side in case they don't want to be in the middle of it, but still enjoy the place.
As for location, either where dave mentioned on main, or somewhere north of the library around 9th and baltimore.

swampranger wrote:As for location, either where dave mentioned on main, or somewhere north of the library around 9th and baltimore.

that spot is just begging for more activity! good choice!

It seems like there's been a sign on the SE corner of 10th & Baltimore (Library Lofts?) forever, stating that there is an "interesting restaurant space" available.  That could mean a number of things (tiny, oddly shaped, windowless?) but worth a look maybe.

"Open after 2pm" is definitely a big one for me. However, I would prefer, "open after the business day is over," so I can have a dinner option.

Customer service is #1! People need to feel that you're glad they are there, and that its a friendly place.  I'd go back a couple of times to a place that had bad food if the service was good, and they made an effort to correct things.  If its great food, and surly staff, I won't go back.

tat2kc wrote: Customer service is #1! People need to feel that you're glad they are there, and that its a friendly place.  I'd go back a couple of times to a place that had bad food if the service was good, and they made an effort to correct things.  If its great food, and surly staff, I won't go back.

Agreed. As long as I get friendly service--even if there's a problem or a complaint (and I pretty much never complain)--I'm happy.

That said, the operation being discussed in the OP doesn't sound like someplace I'd get to go often, due to the early closing hours. What kind of lunch fare do you have in mind?

A snack to buy on the way out would be grand.  Maybe just a basket of apples, puffed-rice cereal treats, yogurt etc...  I get hungry again at 3. 

How about good food? Something truly unique.

Your concept sounds great.  Bahua's idea of having it stay open a bit later is a good idea, depending upon where and when you end up opening downtown.  Even if you stopped serving sit-down meals after lunch hours, you could also offer casual but semi-elegant or downright "homey" brown bag/ take home dinners.  I think this might be appealing to anybody who doesn't feel like cooking after a long day at work, but it'd especially appeal to the young single professionals who live downtown.  They can bring home a high-quality, yummy meal and not have to mess up the kitchen.  For a lot of them it really does boil down to that age old dilemma, "I'd love to cook something special for dinner, but it's only for me, so..."

Back to the location question: Y'know, anywhere downtown is going to be a good place soon enough.  Wherever you decide to open, I hope you dedicate some of your advertising dollars to small local papers like the Northeast News.  I've been reading a lot of the threads in this forum, and it seems to me that there is a surprising number of sophisticated palates in that area just salivating at the thought of more and better places to frequent downtown...and also in the Northeast area. 

Oh, and for the record, no, I don't work for NE News, nor do I live in Northeast, but I will admit I am toying w/ the idea of buying a house in that area.   

tat2kc wrote: Customer service is #1! People need to feel that you're glad they are there, and that its a friendly place.  I'd go back a couple of times to a place that had bad food if the service was good, and they made an effort to correct things.  If its great food, and surly staff, I won't go back.

No one goes back if the food is bad. You're a funny guy.
I like it when you walk into a place and they remembered what you drink and of course customer service is #1.
As soon as I sit down to look at the menu I don't want to be waiting more that 3 minutes for the server to come over to order drinks.

My favorite element in a restaurant??? A hot waitress. 

I agree with the brown bag, after-work dinner pick up idea.  As a bachelor, I especially like places that are friendly and intimate where I can sit, eat, read a magazine or book, people watch and chat with the workers/patrons for an hour or two in the early-mid evening.  I work in JoCo so would never be able to visit you if you close at two .  Service and food quality are important too, as well as price if you are hoping to attract regular repeat visitors.  Once meals creap over ten dollars your venu tends to become a place people go once in a while instead of a default location frequented two or three times a week by the same customer.  True that service is important.  The only time it's ok and even cool to get shitty/snippy service is at the town topic at 3am. 

Gretz wrote: I agree with the brown bag, after-work dinner pick up idea. 

I concur. That would be a really great idea, particularly downtown.

Carbon.

With a restaurant that caters to just a lunchtime crowd I do not think is a good Idea for a city as big as KC. If you stay open with table service throughout the day, you can cater to the non traditional crowd. I know of a lot of restaurants that close at 2:00 and it is hard for someone that has an odd shift to make it to the restaurant. I think it would be a better idea to stay open all day. We have 2 chains of coffee houses here in Topeka: Clasic Bean and Lazios that are open all day. They serve sandwiches, deserts, cookies, coffee, Ice cream and wine. They also bring in local entertainers to perform for the crouds at night. Clasic bean also sells the artwork on the walls. these elements have made these coffee houses famous in the Topeka area. this I feal would work for you also.

bahua wrote: Carbon.

I'm with bahua.

for me, the sweet spot has always been $7-$8 (and maybe $9 if i'm in a splurging mood) for a whole meal with drink (and not having to tip, i just buy the food and sit somewhere).  In Chicago one of my favorite places to grab relatively cheap but good food was an italian deli called L'Apetito where i could get a variety of sandwiches for between $3.50-$6 (the low end being a straitforward panini with just cheese and meat (already prepared and sitting on a heater), and things getting more elaborate the higher the scale (and usually prepared fresh)).  They also had an array of salads and pastas sold by the pound (and which generally came to about 6 dollars if you made a meal of it). The cold drinks were just whatever you pulled out of a fridge (so the usual ice teas, juices, sodas, etc etc along with some exotic variations of the aforementioned), and the hot drinks were house specialties they prepared for you (which ran the usual coffeehouse prices).  They also had a bakery that had specialized italian confections (which i rarely bought since i've never been one to drop a whole dollar for a tiny cookie thing), but they seemed to have a brisk business from that. 

I would go for a corner storefront, where in one half of the place it's more lunch/business/fast eating oriented, and the other half is more lounge/coffeplace/after hour type.  That way you have a comfortable spot for people who want to hang around, and you have a quicker area for those just coming and going.

Bustle.