15 new KC restaurants we’re most looking forward to in 2024: Barbecue, sushi and more

Jenna Thompson, David Hudnall
·4 min read

What do Kansas Citians (and food writers) have to look forward to in 2024?

A barbecue dive bar, more of your favorite specialty tacos, and Kansas City’s first omakase sushi restaurant, to name a few.

To celebrate the new year and all it aims to bring, we gathered 15 of the Kansas City area’s most anticipated restaurant openings.

Whether or not we continue our New Year’s resolutions and gym memberships into February, one thing’s certain: We’ll be bringing you the updates — and tasting the food — from these restaurants and more all year long. See you there?

Vita’s Place. Underdog Wine Co. owners Ryan and Jenny Sciara will open a small neighborhood wine bar at 5514 Oak, just around the corner from their Brookside shop. Projected opening: early January.

Whole Harvest. A Kansas City-based meal delivery service is opening its first restaurant. The Leawood spot at 4853 W. 117th St. will have a health focus, serving zucchini bread, loaded sweet potatoes, lentil pancakes, edamame dip and more. Projected opening: second week of January.

Whole Harvest Kitchen’s kelp noodles with tea leaf tahini, cabbage slaw, edamame, shiitake mushrooms, sambal and sesame.
Whole Harvest Kitchen’s kelp noodles with tea leaf tahini, cabbage slaw, edamame, shiitake mushrooms, sambal and sesame.

Tiki Taco. With two locations in Kansas City, Tiki Taco will open its first spot on the Kansas side at 7514 W. 80th St. in Overland Park. The restaurant will serve the same customer favorites: crunchy tacos, nachos, burritos and more. Projected opening: January.

1981 K-Chicken. The old Steve’s Villa Capri, an Italian restaurant at 10412 Mastin St., will soon become a Korean chicken restaurant and bar. This is the first concept from longtime friends Kue-Jin Hwang, Sung Jo and Kyoungmin Kim. Hwang says opening a restaurant has been their dream for years. Projected opening: January.

Aqua Penny’s. The owners of the popular Park Place Thai restaurant Bamboo Penny’s are opening a seafood and oyster bar concept in the same Leawood shopping center. Aqua Penny’s will be open for lunch, dinner, happy hour and brunch. Projected opening: February.

A rendering of the new Aqua Penny’s opening in Leawood.
A rendering of the new Aqua Penny’s opening in Leawood.

Lottie’s Get Down. The Nashville-based firm behind the Westport music venue Tin Roof will open this Southern-fried chicken concept at 4057 Pennsylvania Ave. The building was previously Mickey’s Hideaway, and, before that, McCoy’s Public House. Projected opening: early 2024.

The Blue Palm. Owners Dan Doty, Roxie Danner and Houston DeFoe are planning a tiki bar in the Strawberry Hill space Mockingbird Lounge vacated this fall at 204 Orchard St. in Kansas City, Kansas. Projected opening: early 2024.

Green Dirt on Oak. Sarah Hoffmann, artisan cheesemaker and owner of Green Dirt Farm in Weston, will open a Crossroads fine-dining restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, dinner and her award-winning cheeses at 1601 Oak St. The spot will have a rooftop deck, an event space and a production facility. Projected opening: early 2024.

Green Dirt Farm’s new Crossroads restaurant will feature its cheese on sandwiches and cheese boards.
Green Dirt Farm’s new Crossroads restaurant will feature its cheese on sandwiches and cheese boards.

Osteria Bianchi. Las Vegas culinary transplants Josh and Kelly Bianchi plan a traditional Italian restaurant in the former Trago Bar & Tapas space at 9261 N.E. 83rd Terrace, near Liberty. Dishes planned include a tonnarelli cacio e pepe pasta, wood-fired pizzas and a pork trio (braised pork belly, roasted pork loin and crispy carnitas) served with spaetzle and red wine-braised cabbage. Projected opening: early 2024.

Meddys. The Wichita-based Mediterranean restaurant, which already has locations in Brookside and Prairie Village, is expanding again, this time to Lenexa, on the southwest corner of West 88th Street and Maurer Road. The restaurant offers shawarmas, hummus plates and salads, inspired by owner Alex Harb’s Lebanese culture. Projected opening: March.

Sushi Kodawari. Austin transplant Karson Thompson plans to open Kansas City’s first omakase restaurant at 2100 Central St. The fine-dining sushi experience will also be one of the city’s smallest restaurants, with just an eight-seat counter offering two seatings per night. Projected opening: spring.

Carne Diem. Husband-and-wife pair Louis Guerrieri and Sarah Nelson, who opened the small-plates restaurant Ombra in 2022 at The Village at Briarcliff, are planning this upscale meat market and seafood counter just down the road, at 4179 N. Mulberry Drive. Projected opening: spring.

The Fresh Mediterranean Co. This Middle Eastern restaurant started inside a Lawrence Cenex gas station, serving chicken shawarma, falafel, hummus and gyros. It is expanding into a fast-casual concept, owner Hanif Lakhani said, and taking over the space at 3904 Bell in Kansas City, where d’Bronx Authentic Deli and Pizzeria closed in 2022. Projected opening: spring.

Night Goat. Fox and Pearl’s Sunday barbecue pop-up is getting its own permanent space in the West Side restaurant’s basement, at 2139 Summit. Expect a honky-tonk dive bar setting with barbecue sandwiches and tacos on the menu. Projected opening: late spring or summer.

Night Goat, a Sunday barbecue pop-up inside Fox & Pearl, will get its own space in 2024.
Night Goat, a Sunday barbecue pop-up inside Fox & Pearl, will get its own space in 2024.

Enjoy Pure Food + Drink. Staci Cross, who owns a health restaurant in Leawood’s Mission Farms, is expanding her concept to Lenexa. The new restaurant will be part of a project dubbed Restaurant Row near 87th Street and Renner Boulevard. Projected opening: September.