Joel Ramos had been waiting six months and 30 minutes for his breakfast sandwich.
Half an hour before Kitty’s Cafe opened on Thursday morning, Ramos stood right outside the door, watching as more than a dozen people joined the line behind him, stretching a block down 31st Street.
“That’s why I got here a little early,” said Ramos, 34. “If they ain’t been here in so many months, there definitely gonna be some people out here. But I got lucky, good spot.”
The modest but beloved hole-in-the-wall shut down for a remodel in April, meant to take only a few weeks. When it was still closed months later, many of Kitty’s anxious customers noticed, and worried.
Finally, last week, Kitty’s Cafe announced the good news on Instagram: The restaurant’s remodel was done, the owners were stocking up and would soon be serving up sandwiches again.
For Ramos, who was born and raised in Kansas City, Kitty’s return was a moment worth celebrating. And not just for himself, but also for his girlfriend, Kimberly, and their new daughter, Viola.
Viola was born half a year ago, into a world without Kitty’s Cafe — an injustice Ramos planned to correct as soon as possible.
“She can eat normal food now, so she’s gonna eat some hot sauce today,” Ramos said.
Just after 9 a.m., co-owner Jinna Soulivong readied the cash register, pushed out the movable countertop and unlocked the door. She welcomed her first customers of the day with an apology and a ready notepad. “You know what I want,” Ramos told her with a smile.
Two breakfast sandwiches, extra mayo, a side of fries and a side of hot sauce.
The next customer steps up: An egg, bacon and sausage sandwich with cheese, a chicken sandwich with extra hot sauce, a side of tater tots, a side of hot sauce and two Diet Cokes.
Kitty’s Cafe first opened in 1951, the creation of Japanese American couple Paul and Kitty Kawakami. They moved to Kansas City from California, where they spent time in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.
When the Kawakamis retired in 1986, Kitty’s Cafe bounced from owner to owner until the building, and its recipes, were bought by another Asian American restauranteur in 1999: Charlie Soulivong.
He and his daughter Jinna have run the place since.
Jinna Soulivang said the prolonged closure was unexpected for them, too.
“It was sad, honestly,” she said. “We were just waiting like you guys, it was horrible.”
Soulivong said their original plan was to convert the adjoining patio area into an indoor dining space, and expand the kitchen in their current building. But they felt duped by their original contractors and couldn’t obtain the permits they needed from the city.
“They were asking for more and more and more and more, and there’s only so much we have,” she said. “It just didn’t happen.”
According to a spokesperson for Kansas City, the only permit that Kitty’s Cafe applied for was for a service upgrade, and that no plans for structural work was submitted to the city.
"We understand that permitting issues can often be misunderstood or misrepresented, particularly when delays occur," the spokesperson wrote in an email. "Unfortunately, we’ve seen cases where contractors fail to apply for the necessary permits, leading to complications for business owners down the road."
Instead, the Soulivongs got a new contractor and remodeled what they could, adding new countertops and wall tiling, and all-new kitchen equipment. Its red-and-brown exterior remains much the same, as does the menu: Burgers, breakfast sandwiches, fries, tater tots and, most famously, a triple-decker pork tenderloin sandwich.
It’s a dish unlike the larger-than-your-plate pork tenderloin sandwiches at restaurants across the Midwest, stretching well beyond the confines of their bun.
Inspired instead by Japanese pork katsu, the tenderloins are thin, fried in tempura batter, and layered three-high, with a few choice toppings and a homemade hot sauce. (You can also get the sandwich with chicken or catfish instead.)
The pork tenderloin sandwich helped establish Kitty’s as an essential Kansas City lunch destination. But it’s also brought nationwide acclaim: The New York Times listed the restaurant as one of the best in the country in 2022, more than 70 years after it opened.
“This is the best chicken sandwich and pork tenderloin anywhere, as far as I’m concerned,” says Dave Haney, who said he’s come here about once a month for 15 years.
While the cafe increased its prices slightly after reopening — the tenderloin sandwich will now set you back $9.50 — there’s still nothing on the menu in the double digits. They’re still cash-only, too.
The convoluted permitting process left Soulivong frustrated with city bureaucracy, but she hopes to finish the expansion some day. Kitty’s Cafe still only has one grill and one fryer so, even on a slow day, it can take a while to get customers their food.
Stacey Lake, a Hyde Park resident, came prepared: She brought a book.
Lake has frequented Kitty’s Cafe for 17 years and didn’t want to admit at first how often she’s here.
“It depends on if I’m on a diet or not. If I’m not on a diet, on average, once a week, twice a week. If I’m on a diet … probably once a week,” she said, laughing.
This morning she’s ordering for two: Lake’s a vegetarian, and she calls her husband a “bread-cheese-meat kind of guy.” One side of fries, an egg and cheese sandwich without mayo, a cheeseburger no toppings, two IBC root beers and two tater tots.
“They have the best tater tots in Kansas City,” Lake says. “I will die on that argument.”
Lake said the closure put a real “downer on the neighborhood,” but was heartened to see the steady morning traffic. “It’s a staple of our community,” she said.
With nearly every customer who placed their order, another filled the space behind them. Outside on 31st Street, a yellow school bus came to an abrupt halt.
The bus driver opened the doors and shouted out to the people in line.
“They’re open? Oh my God, oh my God! I’ll be back for my fish sandwich!”
