@Chaz on the Plaza
Welcome, {{secret_name | Secret Reader}}
From the Bar
From the Bar
I went to Chaz on the Plaza to see The Baby J Duo — Jesica Poell and her rotating cast doing their thing. Vocal jazz that swings without apology. The Chaz staff was incredibly attentive and warm, the food was great, and you should have the dessert! If you haven't been, go. If you've been, you already know. Then — because the night said so — O'Dowd's. Because sometimes a proper evening ends with dancing, and Kansas City has the right rooms for it.
Chaz is also doing their Strings on the Green series this spring — outdoor evenings on the Plaza with live music under the sky. Worth watching their calendar.
Arrowhead is unrecognizable right now. Crews have installed a soccer pitch and are transforming the stadium into "Kansas City Stadium" for the FIFA World Cup, hosting six matches starting June 16. Kansas City bars are also moving toward staying open 23 hours a day during the tournament under a proposed city ordinance. The World Cup is six weeks away. KC hosts Argentina, Ecuador, Tunisia, Netherlands, Algeria, and Austria in group stage play, plus a Round of 32 and a Quarterfinal. This city is about to be a destination for the world…You scared yet?
Two things deserve your attention this week.
The Great Gatsby at the Kauffman is in its final weekend. Eboni Fondren and Lonnie McFadden on that stage together, live jazz ensemble, the full production. Once it closes Saturday, it's gone. If you've been waiting — don’t wait too long!
And Saturday, May 16, is World Whisky Day — the annual global occasion founded in 2012 to make whisky more accessible and bring enthusiasts together across every category, from Scotch to bourbon to the full spectrum of the world's distilling traditions. I am, as stated, a fan. Find a good spot. Ask about something you haven't tried. Let the person behind the counter show you something.
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.
Jazz Lounge · Evening
Chaz at the Raphael
Live jazz, Plaza views. The room KC adults bring people they want to impress.
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
Silversun Pickups · Thu May 14 / 7:30 PM Layered, guitar-driven indie rock from a band that's been doing this long enough to make it look effortless. Warehouse on Broadway is an intimate room for a band that usually plays bigger stages.
→ Warehouse on Broadway
Rebel Queens · Fri May 15 / 7:30 PM All-female rock tribute act on the Garage Stage. High energy, crowd-forward, and a Friday night warm-up that earns its own billing. → Knuckleheads Saloon — Garage Stage
RADfest · Sat May 16 / 7:00 PM KC's homegrown alternative and indie music festival returns to Lemonade Park. Outdoor, community-rooted, and nearly sold out. Move fast. → Lemonade Park
Late Night with Trib · Sat May 16 / 10:00 PM–1:00 AM A rotating lineup led by KC bandleader Rob Tribitt. Jazz, blues, and soul influence with a full band sound that keeps the room moving. The late-night move. → Uptown Lounge KC
World Whiskey Day · Sat May 16 Frost marks the occasion with a dedicated whiskey event. The right excuse to go somewhere with a serious back bar and stay a while.
→ Frost
🥂 Date Nights
Eboni Fondren · Thu May 14 / 7:30 PM — Free One of Kansas City's most decorated jazz vocalists — in an intimate speakeasy setting. Free admission. No excuse not to go. → Voo Lounge
Kansas City Ballet — The Great Gatsby · Fri May 15 or Sat May 16 / 7:30 PM Final weekend. Live jazz ensemble, Lonnie McFadden on tap, Eboni Fondren on vocals. If it hasn't happened yet, this is the last call. After Saturday, it's gone.
→ Muriel Kauffman Theatre
Bosman Twins · Sat May 16 Jazz at Lonnie's Reno Club. A proper KC room with musicians who take the night seriously. → Lonnie's Reno Club
Pub Choir · Sun May 17 The whole room learns a song together. Stranger than it sounds. Better than you'd expect. → Madrid Theatre
👨👩👧👦 Family Friendly
The Wizard of Oz — KC Rep · Ongoing PigPen Theatre Co.'s adaptation of the classic on the KC Rep stage. Enchanting production, right for any age that can sit with the story. → KC Rep
Stone Lion Puppet Theatre — 1,000 Cranes and the Tree of Wishes · Fri May 15–Sat May 16 Original puppet theatre at the Polsky Theatre in Overland Park. Intimate, imaginative, and genuinely transportive for younger audiences. → Polsky Theatre
Strawberry Swing West Bottoms Heritage Days Pop-Up · Sat May 16 Vintage market and heritage celebration in the historic West Bottoms. Antiques, local vendors, walkable and free to browse. → West Bottoms KC
Another Negroni
Last Call 🍸
The story goes like this: Florence, 1919. Count Camillo Negroni walks into Caffè Casoni and asks his bartender — Fosco Scarselli — to strengthen his usual Americano. Swap the soda water for gin. Scarselli does it. Adds an orange garnish instead of the lemon to signal the difference. The Count approves. A drink is born.
Equal parts gin, Campari, sweet vermouth. Stirred, not shaken — always stirred, because you're combining three spirits and shaking bruises them and muddies the clarity. Served over a large rock with that orange peel expressing its oils across the surface. Good stuff.
Richard made me one at Chaz Saturday night. Another Gin — Hendrick's other expression, stranger and more floral than the flagship, built on a different botanical foundation. Against the Campari it flavored in ways the standard build doesn't. That's the thing about a great bartender — they don't just make the drink. They make the case for why this particular gin in this particular glass on this particular evening is the right choice. Go to Chaz on the Plaza, sit at the bar, ask for Richard.
Now. The Mezcal Negroni.
Someone at some point decided that swapping the gin for mezcal was either an act of genius or mild insanity. Mezcal brings smoke. Real smoke — not the polite suggestion of oak that bourbon gives you, but actual agave-cooked-in-an-earthen-pit smoke. Against Campari's bitter citrus and the sweetness of the vermouth, it absolutely rocks. A different conversation entirely.
The Oaxacan Negroni goes further — mezcal plus reposado tequila sharing the base, which gives you smoke and agave sweetness together, both pushing against the Campari. I've had this one and I will keep having it. The Rosita is the tequila-only version, with the addition of dry vermouth alongside sweet, which opens it up and lightens the whole structure. More aperitivo, less brooding. Also excellent.
There you have it, three versions. Go find a serious bar this Saturday. It's World Whisky Day, yes — but pour one Negroni first.
Stay sharp, KC ☾