A Tour of Tastes: A review of Kansas City Restaurant Week’s lunch and dinners

Kansas City Restaurant Week — a classic Kansas City tradition.

Started 12 years ago with the goal to support local restaurants by creating publicity, restaurants pack in extra chairs and fill the reservation book on this one special week of the year. People attend for the discounts and fresh food — plus 10% of sales from each meal go towards benefiting an annual charity partner, Guadalupe Centers, and two founding beneficiaries: Visit KC Foundation and  Greater Kansas City Restaurant Association Educational Foundation.

Nearly 200 restaurants participate in this 10-day-event starting Friday and finishing on the following Sunday, each year. The restaurants participating offer the option of their KC Restaurant Week meal on a separate menu with a set price of $15 for lunch and $35 for dinner to customers. This year’s KCRW lasted from January 14 through the 23, but it differs by year. 

This year, I decided to explore the event and see what food it had to offer. I thought it would be easy, but KCRW definitely proved me wrong. Out of the hundreds of restaurants to choose from on the KCRW website, I chose the three that looked the most appealing to me and were most convenient.

Mission Taco Joint

My restaurant tour began at Mission Taco Joint located on 5060 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112. I ordered their restaurant week food course which started off with chips, queso and salsa. The smooth green salsa surprised me at first since it wasn’t red. I liked how it wasn’t too spicy or too sweet — the perfect balance of flavors.

The next part of the meal was three beef tinga tacos — shredded beef in chile morita sauce, smashed avocado, grilled onion and radish salsita on a flour tortilla. The combination of all the different ingredients and flavors were some of the best tacos I’ve ever had— they were gone within minutes. I could’ve eaten three more. As I took my last bite, my server brought out two steaming churros with a tiny cup of thin chocolate sauce. As good as the churros were, they didn’t taste any they don’t taste any different than others I’ve had. That being said, they too were gone in seconds. 

My server was friendly and noted that Restaurant Week helps with publicity during the slow month of January. I’d give it a four out of five stars. All of the food was good but comparable to what I’ve had at the countless other taco places in Kansas. This taco joint didn’t have anything in particular to set it apart from the rest.

Third Street Social

The second restaurant I went to was Third Street Social located across the street from the Mission Taco Joint on 5060 Main St, Kansas City, MO 64112. The first part of their dinner meal was the house salad — a classic they most certainly did justice to with fresh vegetables topped with crisp croutons and dressing.  

The second course was house fried chicken with mashed Yukon gold potatoes and pickled vegetables. A simple dish that tasted as good mixed together as it did on it’s own. 

Not only was the food delicious, but the customer service was amazing. My waiter, Zane Moriarty, took service with a smile to a whole new level. His friendliness and love for his job made him the best waiter I’ve ever had. 

“I think Restaurant Week is really good because we were really busy right before Christmas and then Christmas Eve, it really slowed down,” Moriarty said. “Restaurant Week is awesome for getting people out to restaurants. Monday through Thursday I had maybe five tables a night all the way up until last night. I walked out with maybe $50, $60 [in tips]. And last night [the 16th] I walked with almost $300.”

The whole experience at Third Street Social was a five out of five, no questions asked. The food was amazing, the environment was welcoming and every waiter and waitress was friendly. Plus, there was a wide variety of seating options such as a bar with TVs surrounding you, booths by the windows or a more closed off space in the back. 

Grand Street Café

The third and final restaurant I went to on my one-day food adventure was Grand Street Café. As soon as I walked in and saw the sophisticated leather booths and ornate gold chandeliers, I knew it was by far the most upscale restaurant of the three.

My first course for the KC Restaurant dinner was a tomato basil bisque paired with sourdough grilled cheese along with croutons and basil oil on top. It was overall pretty filling and the smoothness and flavor of the tomato topped it off, but nothing different tasting than another tomato soup from another restaurant’s menu. 

For my second course, I was served the Mediterranean orzo salad over the short rib rigatoni off the KCRW menu. It came with grilled shrimp, julienned spinach, baby arugula, kalamata olives, marinated artichokes, shaved red onion and zucchini, roasted cherry tomatoes and red peppers, feta cheese and sherry thyme vinaigrette. A surprising grouping of different foods combined into a salad made for a unique combination. While not something I’d eat regularly, it was definitely worth going out of my comfort zone.

The final course of Crème Brûlée was a tasty way to wrap up the meal and end the day with it’s glazed top and creamy layers, leaving my rating a four out of five.