Taylor Swift, Chiefs wives dined at this Johnson County restaurant for ‘ladies’ night’

Megan Garrelts didn’t know Taylor Swift would dine at her Leawood restaurant Saturday evening. Until the pop superstar walked through the front door.

She and her husband, Colby, had known a group affiliated with the Kansas City Chiefs was coming to their high-end Midwest comfort food spot, Rye KC.

Someone the couple “normally deals with” from the Chiefs called to reserve the restaurant’s private back room for 7 p.m., Garrelts said.

“We’ve entertained different levels of the Chiefs, and they’ve always been great,” she said.

But then the group arrived at the Mission Farms restaurant at 10551 Mission Road. Within a group of eight or so wives and girlfriends — Brittany Mahomes and some women Garrelts didn’t recognize — was Swift, dolled up with her signature red-stained lips.

It was a surprise, Garrelts said, but she and Colby kept their cool. To their staff, they stress the importance of remaining professional when dealing with VIP customers. Swift had brought some security guards with her.

“I greeted her and shook her hand … and welcomed her to the restaurant,” Garrelts said.

The crew was seated in the private room while dinner service went on as usual. A few diners who’d seen Swift walk in must have told friends, because a handful of lookie-lous came in asking about her.

Garrelts said her staff remained coy — “Taylor who?”

“It was funny,” she said.

In the back, the ladies ordered Rye’s goat cheese appetizers ($16.50). Swift ordered Rye’s Torchio pasta (braised lamb and pork ragout, oyster mushrooms, horseradish, Parmesan — $32.50) and a French Blonde to drink (Tom’s Town botanical gin, Lillet Blanc fresh grapefruit, St-Germain, thyme — $15).

Garrelts said it was someone’s birthday at the table, and the group celebrated with pie and cinnamon rolls — signature dishes at the restaurant.

“It was a ladies’ night, and it was very fun,” Garrelts said. “I’m glad we were able to give them a space to enjoy themselves.”

Swift treated the staff well, and Garrelts herself had a positive impression of the superstar, who seemed taller in person, she added.

“Everything you would want and hope Taylor to be in real life is who she is,” she said.

Garrelts said her teenage daughter is a huge fan of the singer. The two attended Swift’s Eras Tour in Kansas City together in July. Her daughter has been, understandably, starstruck by the idea that Swift dined at her parents’ restaurant.

The restaurant isn’t far from Kelce’s new Leawood home. Garrelts said Kelce has dined at Rye several times, as have Brittany and Patrick Mahomes.

Colby and Megan Garrelts opened Rye KC in 2012, an upscale farmhouse concept offering breakfast, lunch and dinner. Colby Garrelts won the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef Midwest award in 2013. The couple opened a second location on the Country Club Plaza in 2017 at 4646 Mill Creek Parkway.

They had owned Bluestem, a Westport fine-dining restaurant that closed in 2020.

Swift has been hanging around Chiefs wives and girlfriends since she linked up with tight end Travis Kelce. She attended her first game in September, and has been spotted at several Kansas City area restaurants in the months that followed: Prime Social, Miracle KC, and The American, where she spent New Year’s Eve (the day after her ladies’ night at Rye) — boosting the Kansas City economy along the way.

“It just makes where we live more fun,” Garrelts said.