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From the Bar
Rye remains one of my comfort, easy restaurants. Colby and Megan Garrelts opened the original Rye at Mission Farms in Leawood in December 2012. The Plaza location followed in 2017. Two rooms, urban farmhouse warmth, same point of view: Midwestern food cooked by people who grew up on it, executed with the technique of two James Beard–honored kitchens. Colby took home Best Chef: Midwest in 2013. Megan's pastry program is why you always get the dessert.
The fried chicken is the reason most people come and I slept on it for many visits, until now. Flaky crust, served with housemade pickles and ham gravy, or a housemade hot sauce!! Order it. Then order dessert.
Two notes for this weekend while you're planning:
Big Slick lands at T-Mobile on Saturday — Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Heidi Gardner, and Eric Stonestreet, year seventeen, all of it for Children's Mercy. The hometown reunion at scale.
Festa Italiana runs Friday through Sunday at Zona Rosa. Free admission, three days of food, motorsports, and music. Kate Cosentino on the main stage Saturday at 7:30. Sunday's the family afternoon.
Schools are out. Summer is officially loose in Kansas City.
I’ll see you at the bar ☾
—Jay, SecretKC editor
🥃 The Can’t Miss List
Rooms that always understand the assignment.
Hotel Bar · Evening
Bar Stillwell
Grown-ass bar energy. The best place to begin and end adventures.
Cocktails · Evening
Verdigris
Johnson County's most serious cocktail room. Worth the drive.
The Monarch Bar
Serious cocktails, serious energy. A clean handoff between dinner and the night.
Cafe · Day or Night
Café Corazón
Indigenous-owned Latin American café. Specialty coffee, yerba mate, empanadas, tamales. Not just a coffee shop. A room with a point of view. 3 locations
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🍸 The Weekend
Darren Dowler · Sat 5/30, 8:00 PM Blues-rock vocals and guitar in the basement speakeasy on Baltimore. Dowler's the rare KC singer who can hold a room with ease.
→ VOO Lounge
Kevin Morby · Fri 5/29, 8:00 PM KC-native indie songwriter back at the hometown room behind a quieter, country-leaning record. → Uptown Theater
Sherri Classic Culture Fest · Fri 5/29 – Sat 5/30 Second year of Sherri's homegrown festival on the Jefferson Street Bridge. Live jazz and R&B, food trucks, craft cocktails, premium cigars, and live boxing with ringside VIP. Hosted by Sherri's Executive Lounge and Classic Blends. → Sherri's Executive Lounge
Sugeasy · Sat 5/30 KC funk-rock outfit on the Nighthawk stage. Red curtain, Altec A5 speakers, Dominic Petrucci behind the bar. → Nighthawk at Hotel Kansas City
Big Slick · Sat 5/30, 8:00 PM Paul Rudd, Jason Sudeikis, Heidi Gardner, and Eric Stonestreet headline year 17 of the Children's Mercy benefit. KC's annual hometown reunion at scale. → T-Mobile Center
Up-Down Prom · Sat 5/30 The Crossroads arcade does prom night — dress the part, photo booth, prom-playlist DJ, themed cocktails. 21+. → Up-Down KC
Kesha — The Freedom Tour · Wed 6/3, 7:00 PM Pop survival anthem energy at the new Riverside amphitheater. Just past this weekend, but worth holding the date. → Morton Amphitheater
The Blacklist · Any Night New in Leawood's Mission Farms. Victorian wine bar on one side, speakeasy on the other. Small-production wines from around the world, gin-forward Prohibition-era cocktails, Get the Perfect Negroni! → The Blacklist
🥂 Date Nights
Lonnie McFadden · Fri 5/29 & Sat 5/30, 7:00 PM Three-course dinner, welcome champagne, and McFadden's full singing-trumpet-tap-dance show in the Ambassador basement. Reservations only. Doors 6:15, show 7:00. → Lonnie's Reno Club
The Rich Hill Duo · Sat 5/30, 6:00 PM Vocal-led jazz on the Plaza. Lobster Eggs Benedict territory. Mengel & Matthew take the Sunday slot. → Chaz at the Raphael
Emily Dix · Sat 5/30, 8:00 PM Vocalist on the late slot at the Plaza steakhouse with a serious bar program. A clean handoff from dinner into the night. → Stock Hill
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
Festa Italiana · Fri 5/29 – Sun 5/31 UNICO KC's 18th year at Zona Rosa. Italian motorsports show, wine garden, three nights of music topped by Kate Cosentino (Sat 7:30 PM) and The Bronx Wanderers (Sat 9 PM).
Free admission. → Zona Rosa North Park
KC Folk Fest · Sat 5/30, 11 AM – 7 PM Free all-day roots festival, four stages, Washington Square Park. Freedom Affair and trombonist Trevor Turla on the announced lineup. Vendors, food trucks, all ages. → Washington Square Park
Last Call 🍸
The Whiskey Sour @Hand in Glove
The whiskey sour is older than the country that claims it.
Sailors mixed citrus and spirit to keep scurvy off the ships, and somewhere between Vice Admiral Edward Vernon rationing lime and rum to the British Navy in 1740 and Jerry Thomas codifying it in his 1862 Bartender's Guide, the formula crossed onto American whiskey. Two ounces bourbon. Three-quarters ounce lemon. Three-quarters ounce simple syrup. Shake hard. Strain. That's it. That's the drink.
The egg white came later; it's optional and correct. A teaspoon of egg white shaken dry before the ice goes in — what bartenders call a Boston Sour. The foam lifts the citrus, giving the glass a quiet dignity. A few drops of red wine floated on top makes it a New York Sour, which is what a whiskey sour wears to dinner.
The variants are a map of American cocktail culture. Swap bourbon for Scotch and you have a Gold Rush adjacent. Use Irish whiskey and honey syrup, you've got the actual Gold Rush by way of Milk & Honey. Tequila and lime — Margarita. Gin and lemon — Tom Collins. Every sour cocktail descends from the same logic: strong, sweet, sour, and let the spirit cook.
The mistake most bars make is the mix. Sour mix out of a plastic jug. Pre-batched lemon that's been sitting since Tuesday. The whole point is balance, and balance dies fast…
Hand in Glove in Lee's Summit deserves a shout-out. The bar program there treats the classics like classics — fresh-squeezed citrus, real syrups, attention to ratio. Their whiskey sour arrives as expected. I came to the drink late. I'm making up for lost time.
—Proost! 🍸