Coming to Johnson County: Biscuit sandwiches in the a.m., pizza at night, booze all day

Jenna Thompson
·2 min read

Denver-based Atomic Cowboy, a combination bar, brunch and pizza place, will open its second restaurant in the Kansas City area this fall.

The restaurant, with a rotating menu serving customers all day, is opening an Overland Park location at 7101 W. 80th St. in November, three years after it opened its first KC spot in Westport at 4144 Pennsylvania Ave. The new location will move in next to the UMB Bank building, recently remodeled to allow a tenant next door.

Atomic Cowboy serves breakfast items like its “Lola” — fried chicken and bacon sandwiched between two biscuits and drizzled in syrup — through its Denver Biscuit Co. menu, available from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. The Fat Sully’s Pizza menu is offered after 11 a.m., selling double cheeseburgers and custom pizzas.

At its Westport location, a bar is surrounded by pool tables, high-tops and neon signs. Bartenders pour Moscow mules, breakfast cocktails and beer on tap from open to close.

Founder Drew Shader’s initial plan wasn’t to operate three concepts under one roof, he said, adding, “It just kinda worked out that way.”

The original Atomic Cowboy opened in Denver 20 years ago, only serving spirits at first. Four years later, Shader put a pizza shop inside the bar, which proved to be a “great success.” Separately, he opened a biscuit food truck and called it “the biscuit bus.”

Eventually, his biscuits migrated into the bar and created the mishmash of eateries seen today.

The Overland Park location will be the business’s eighth spot, with another six in Colorado.

The restaurant will feature a “slice window,” where patrons can walk up and order pizza to-go.

Shader said he’s looking forward to planting roots in the Overland Park community, saying the new location has a more “neighborhood” feel than its sister location in nightlife-heavy Westport.

“It’s an awesome area,” he said. “Everything they do there, from the farmers market to just how the community is around there. … We’re excited about it.”