I was down in Kansas City recently and I invited a couple people who work for one of my accounts out for dinner one evening. I had them make the suggestion and knowing that I like to keep things local, one of them suggested the Summit Grill in Lee's Summit on the far east side of the Kansas City metro area. I had heard about the Summit Grill in the past, but I had never been to one. We decided to meet up at the Summit Grill later that evening.
Andy Lock and Domhnall Molloy met in 2009 while they were both working for McCormick and Schmick's in Kansas City - Lock was the regional manager for the chain of upscale steak and seafood restaurants while Molloy was a chef for the company. Lock and Molloy decided to pair up for a new concept of an upscale casual American restaurant that would be called Summit Grill. The two talked another executive chef at McCormick and Schmick's, Taiwan-born/Kansas City-raised Po Wang, to come on board with them as their culinary director.
The first Summit Grill opened in Lee's Summit in 2012, while a second one opened in the Waldo neighborhood of Kansas City in 2014. The Waldo location moved to its present day location just off Wornall Road at W. 75th St. in 2016. And in 2018, a third Summit Grill opened in the north Kansas City suburb of Gladstone. In addition to the three Summit Grill locations, Lock and Molloy's Summit Group also oversees two Third Street Social locations, Boru Asian Eatery, Lakewood Local, and Pearl Tavern.
The Lee's Summit location is sort of set back off I-470 just off the Bowlin Road exit. In fact, I've probably driven right past the place for the past nearly 10 years without ever noticing the place. After exiting I-470 at Bowlin Road, I took a quick right on NE Lakewood Way and drove about a quarter mile back south before coming up to the Summit Grill. (see map)
Given how packed the parking lot was when I pulled into Summit Grill in Lee's Summit, I figured that it had to be a very popular place. My guests hadn't shown up yet, so I ended up hitting the bar while I wanted for them. The bar area was very nice with alcove ceiling panels with recessed lighting. The bar top was the exact same color and pattern of our counter tops at home. I ordered up a Boulevard Brewing Co. Bob's 47 Oktoberfest beer while I waited for my guests to show up.
Once my guests showed up, we all met at the hostess table and we were shown to a booth in the dining room. The dining room was warm and cozy with a lot of dark wood accents. Booths lined the walls with a smattering of booths with banquette seating in the middle. We were given menus to look over and our server for the evening, a young lady by the name of Peyton, came over to greet us and take our drink orders. One of my guests ordered a vodka and lemonade, while the other ordered up the Summit Punch - a concoction consisting of raspberry vodka, St. Germain liqueur, pepper simple syrup, lemon juice and finished off with raspberries and a basil leaf. It was quite the concoction.
It was a somewhat upscale menu at Summit Grill. Appetizers such as seared ahi, phyllo-wrapped baked brie, and fried shrimp made with togarashi peppers with a sriracha-lime aioli were the more prominent items. They had gourmet burgers on the menu, as well as a braised-beer/5 cheese grilled sandwich, a corned-beef rueben, and a prime rib dip sandwich. Main entrees featured some seasonal items including a dry-rubbed ribeye steak and an herb-grilled shrimp with risotto. Blackened mahi mahi tacos were part of the entree section of the menu along with a seafood mac & cheese with shrimp and scallops, and a chicken-fried chicken dish with mashed potatoes and country gravy.
My guests got the exact same thing - the center cut Black Angus filet. The steak came with potatoes that appeared to be mashed then fried, as well as a medley of sautéed vegetables. The filet was finished with a light demi-glace. There were absolutely no complaints from my guests on how their steaks were cooked and how they tasted.
I went with one of the pasta dishes they had that evening - the Cajun chicken fettuccine. It featured grilled chicken strips with Cajun spices, thick house-made fettuccine noodles mixed with sautéed mushrooms and cherry tomatoes in a black pepper light cream sauce. It was an excellent choice. The meal was spicy, but not enough to take away the wonderful flavors from the chicken and fettuccine noodles. I got a glass of the Periano malbec wine to go along with the meal and it went well with the meal.
One of my guests had to leave to go pick up his daughter, by my other guest - who I've known for years and years - hung out and we caught up on what was going on with each other's lives. As we continued to sit there, we noticed that there was just one other couple in a booth toward the back of the restaurant. Suddenly, there was a commotion with a couple staff members at that booth and it appeared the older gentleman was having some sort of a medical issue. Not long after that, five E.M.T.'s from the Lee's Summit Fire Department came in to check on the man. A couple of the E.M.T.'s left and came back with a stretcher.
As they were loading the man onto the stretcher, one of Summit Grill's managers came over to tell us what was going on. "He just had a medical procedure a couple days ago and he wanted to go out to dinner," the lady manager told us. "But then he realized that he probably had over-done it a bit and needed assistance. He should be fine." We expressed concern and relief for the man's condition.
After the man was wheeled out with his companion following along, we were suddenly alone in the dining room. "Well, that's not something you see every day at a restaurant," my guest said with a laugh of relief.
Summit Grill was one of those "duh!" finds for me. I can't believe that it took me this long to find out about the place as I thought I knew most of the casual upscale places in the Kansas City area. But it turned out that I really didn't. I thought my Cajun chicken fettuccine was excellent and my guests were more than happy with the Black Angus center cut filets they ordered. The service we had from Peyton that evening was friendly and efficient, and we were even impressed that management came over to explain the medical issue one of the dining room patrons was experiencing. There's a lot of good steak houses in Kansas City, but I'd recommend Summit Grill if you're looking for steak and other items to choose from.
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