Down in Kansas City for my last trip of 2019, I got back to the hotel near the Power & Light District after a long day of meetings in and around the city. I thought about heading back over across the street to the Streetcar Grille & Tavern (click here to see the recent entry on the Streetcar Grille), but I found out that there was a BRGR Kitchen & Bar just a couple blocks from the hotel. I had eaten at the original BRGR Kitchen + Bar in suburban Prairie Village about 7 years ago. (Click here to see that entry on Road Tips.) I remember that the place was nice, they had a good selection of craft beers, and the burger was good, but overcooked to my liking. I thought I'd give them another try, so I walked up the street to have dinner at the downtown Kansas City location for BRGR Kitchen.
The original group behind the concept and direction of BRGR was Bread and Butter Concepts, a restaurant holding company run by partners Alan Gaylin and Glynn Roberts along with Roberts' wife, Jean. Alan Gaylin came from a long lineage of restaurant management, formerly as the Senior Vice-President for Business Development of the group that oversaw Bennigan's and the former Steak and Ale restaurants. He then moved over to Houlihan's as the operations director before taking the same position at T.G.I. Friday's.
Glynn Roberts didn't have much of a background, if any, in the restaurant business. Roberts was the President and co-founder of Northstar Offshore - a Houston-based oil and gas exploration company now part of the Sanare Partners group. But Gaylin and Roberts were middle school friends from Houston who partnered up to develop restaurant concepts in the greater Kansas City area where Gaylin had taken up residence. It took them a little over two years from the time they started their Bread and Butter Concepts partnership to open their first restaurant - BRGR Kitchen + Tap - in March of 2010. A little over a year later, they opened their second restaurant - Urban Table - that offers an eclectic mix of breakfast, lunch and dinner in a neighborhood-style corner cafe/market.
In November of 2011, Bread and Butter Concepts opened what they called Kansas City's first "gastropub" - Gram and Dun. The gastropub craze has hit most major markets combining an English-style public house with a restaurant that also focuses on food. Gram and Dun goes a step further by offering gourmet-style offerings in a fun, casual and relaxing atmosphere.
By 2012, a number of restaurants that initially opened when the Power & Light District came into being closed due to lack of business and high rents in the district. One of those was a place called Fran's Diner, a Canadian-based upscale comfort food place that had opened in 2009 as the first American outpost of the restaurant. Bread and Butter Concepts took over the space and opened their second BRGR location in July of 2013. Three years later, the third BRGR Kitchen + Bar opened in the former Barley's Brewhaus location in suburban Leawood, KS.
However, by the end of 2018, high debt forced Bread and Butter Concepts into bankruptcy and they were forced to sell off many of their assets. The three BRGR Kitchen + Tap locations were bought by Whitney VinZant, the owner of the Kansas City-based Louie's Wine Dive, a rustic-themed wine and liquor bar/restaurant with 7 locations in Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Tennessee and Indiana. One of the reasons why VinZant bought the BRGR locations is because it was one of his family's favorite place to eat.
The downtown Kansas City BRGR Kitchen + Tap is located at the corner of 14th and Main in the heart of the Power & Light District. (see map) It was a brisk walk against the wind up the street to BRGR from my hotel. And upon heading into BRGR, I found it to be nearly deserted - similar to many other places I've been to in the Power & Light District when there's nothing going on during the week at the nearby Sprint Center or Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Wood and brick accents were found throughout the place with subdued overhead lighting giving the place a cozy feeling.
I ended up taking a seat at the large rectangular bar just inside the front door. Basketball games were on the flat screen televisions that hung from the ceiling above the bar island. One of the bartenders on duty that evening came by with a food menu and a beer list. I remembered from my first visit to BRGR over 7 years ago that in addition to a nice variety of craft beers, they also had some down-home old-fashioned beers such as Pabst Blue Ribbon, Hamm's, and Budweiser available in cans. They also had cans of the Cigar City Jai Alai IPA that I've grown sort of fond of. However, the bartender told me that they had their draft beers on special that evening. I got a pint of the Hardway IPA from the Martin City Brewing Company located on the far south side of Kansas City. (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the Martin City Brewing Company.)
Of course, burgers are the main attraction at BRGR Kitchen + Tap. They have a handful of specialty burgers on the menu including the Fast Cow which is a coffee-encrusted burger topped with blue cheese and chopped bacon and served on a muffin; the Road Hoss that is topped with onion rings, cheddar cheese, bacon and a barbecue sauce; the Jalapeño popper burger topped with pickled jalapeños, bacon, jalapeño jam and a combination of boursin and cream cheese; and BRGR's take on the Twin Cities classic "Jucy Lucy" burger stuffed with American cheese. Beef alternatives for burgers such as ground turkey and a "Beyond Meat" burger are also available. Grilled chicken sandwiches and a grilled salmon sandwich were also available.
On this visit, I got something that was new on the menu at BRGR - a portobello mushroom and Swiss cheese burger. I asked the bartender if the kitchen could put bacon on it, too. It was a quarter-pound burger patty with marinated portobello mushrooms on top with the cheese. Bacon was criss-crossed on top of that and the toasted egg bun was brushed with a zesty piquant sauce.
On my visit to the original BRGR Kitchen + Tap, the burger was pretty good, but it was overcooked to my tastes. I ordered this one cooked medium and it came out as a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle of the patty. It was oozing with juices with each bite and I had to get more napkins from the bartender. This burger was much better than the first time I went to BRGR.
Also on my first visit, the person serving me was telling me about their truffle tater tots. I didn't get them on that visit, but I had to try them this time. The tots were served in a baking dish and sprinkled with truffle oil and some parmesan cheese. They were absolutely fabulous. I asked the bartender if he had any Cholula to put on the tots, but the only hot sauce he had close to that was Tabasco. I would rather put Cholula on my tots, but the Tabasco worked fine enough. They were rich tasting and filling - I was only able to eat about half the portion that was served to me.
It had been sometime since I had been to a BRGR Kitchen + Tap location in Kansas City. My first visit to one, the burger tasted good, but it was overcooked. On this visit, however, the portobello mushroom/Swiss Cheese/bacon burger was cooked perfectly to my liking. And the truffle tots were outstanding in taste. The BRGR location in downtown Kansas City also had a good selection of craft beers on tap, in bottles and in cans. It was also a nice spot inside. It was comfortable for a single diner and the service I received from the bartender was friendly and efficient. It also helped that there were probably only a dozen people in the place when I was there. But, still, it was a good meal and visit to BRGR Kitchen + Tap.
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