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Once dubbed “millionaires’ row,” Troost Avenue has lived many lives: a farm-to-market route, a corridor of affluence, a working-class-and-streetcar-supported thoroughfare and, eventually, “Troost Wall,” a moniker meant to describe Troost’s status as a de facto line of segregation between Black and white Kansas City.
Today, Troost is a patchwork of neighborhoods reblooming thanks to thoughtful revitalization.
Here we tour a handful of neighborhoods that are bringing new life to the corridor with on-point dining experiences.
Beacon Hill and Center City
For two neighborhoods so close to downtown, and with some of the biggest redevelopment projects in recent memory, Beacon Hill and Center City themselves have not blown up, per se.
Instead, a handful of Black entrepreneurs have been slowly investing in the corridor, quietly turning it into a low-key thriving strip that is pulling in the community as opposed to pushing it out.
The neighborhood is anchored by health care and education. The Health Department is here, as is Kansas City’s Board of Education and the new MCC-Penn Valley Advanced Technical Skills Institute (ATSI).
Further down sits Operation Breakthrough and its hands-on education hub, the Ignition Lab, with Children's Mercy’s Operation Breakthrough Clinic across the street. Just diagonal is poverty and trauma support services nonprofit Reconciliation Services.
As expected, a handful of eateries have appeared along this social services corridor.
Thelma’s Kitchen (3101 Troost Ave.) is a unique social empowerment endeavor: a nonprofit community cafe under the auspices of Reconciliation Services. Diners pay what they may, from $1 to $15, and the cafe offers catering, too. Supporting Thelma’s in turn supports affordable mental health access, eviction prevention, ID assistance and other essential services.
To the north at 3000 Troost Ave. is Ruby Jean’s Kitchen & Juicery, a booming enterprise that now even has a presence at the Kansas City Current’s CPKC Stadium. The brand is shipping its product nationally and can be found in Whole Foods locations.
As for the menu, one can find 16-ounce juices, smoothies and shakes for $8 to $12, “wellness sips”—shootable digestifs and immune boosters—for $1.50 to $4, and a breakfast/lunch menu offering bowls, toasts, scrambles, sandwiches, burritos, curries and much more.
Diagonally across from Ruby Jean’s at 2999 Troost Ave. — in the Wonder Shops and Flats building — is The Combine KC, a delicatessen, pizza restaurant and beer garden in one.
The Combine’s menu is eclectic and exciting: cold and hot sandwiches like a reuben or a shrimp po boy, wings, soups and salad, and pizza, whole or by the slice. Calzones are also available, but so are some other neighborhood-unique bites: Wonder Bread-inspired sandwiches. For $6 and with chips you can get a PB&J, a grilled cheese, turkey and cheese or the very American fluffernutter.
At the south end of this stretch of Troost is Urban Cafe (3420 Troost Ave.). Perhaps completing the dining scene in this neighborhood with its upscale presence, the menu is eclectic but also pays homage to the neighborhood—one can find collard greens and yam mash there, and oxtails, too, served banh mi style.
Beyond comfort food favorites, look for unique offerings like sticky duck wings, octopus tacos or a USDA prime, dry-aged, 14 oz. strip steak, to which you could add crab Oscar, lobster ragout or shrimp scampi.
South Hyde Park
Seems appropriate that there would be several beloved cafes no more than a mile from the Kemper and Nelson-Atkins museums and the Kauffman Memorial Garden. And South Hyde Park’s section of Troost is home to four.
First is Anchor Island Coffee at 4101 Troost Ave. The owners, who are mixed-race Latino and LGBTQ, wanted to bring beach culture and “bring a taste of the tropical climates (they) reminisce about” to Kansas City. And you can see that in their creative drink offerings, like horchata or taro lattes.
In addition to a full coffee menu, Anchor Island also offers diner food like bagel breakfast sandwiches and French toast, plus warmer-climate fare like tamales and a verde chicken bowl.
Just one block down sits Oddly Correct Coffee Bar (4141 Troost Ave.). With a more stripped down vibe, Oddly Correct seeks a “low-brow/high-quality” vibe and overtly tries to nix the stuffy feel of other “specialty” coffee shops.
Their bourbon vanilla latte is a fan favorite, and Oddly’s food menu is built around a house-made buttermilk biscuit that you can customize a variety of ways: sausage or bacon, cheese curds, jam, etc. One fun looking standout is a gluten-free hotcake breakfast sandwich with sausage and cheese curds.
Sweet Cups Rolled Ice Cream (4243 Troost Ave.) adds an explicitly sweet twist (or, roll) to the cafe concept, with a menu mixing rolled gelato and coffee. And don’t worry, they do also offer scooped ice cream!
Options include delights like S'mores Night: chocolate base ice cream, mix marshmallow and graham cracker, top whipped cream, toasted marshmallow and graham cracker.
At the end of this row of cafes is Equal Minded Café & Event Center (4327 Troost Ave.). This establishment is as much a community hub as it is a place for refreshments and bites, so make sure you check their social pages’ event calendars. They host cannabis info sharing sessions, open mics, zine workshops and more.
At the counter, you’ll find flavored lattes as well as frappes, frappucinos, and a robust smoothie menu.
Not a cafe, but an essential establishment to anyone scoping this neighborhood, is Fannie’s West African Cuisine (4105 Troost Ave).
The menu is fish- and poultry-forward but other highlights include hard-to-find-in-KC goat that’s served in a variety of dishes, seafood offerings like pepper crab, and West African staples like fufu (mashed-potato-style pounded cassava, yam or plantains), jollof rice (long-grain rice cooked in a tomato and pepper sauce) and peanut butter soup (a curry-like sauce-soup great with roasted meats and rice).
Fannie’s also cooks a robust vegetarian menu.
Crestwood and Blue Hills
We end this adventure on Troost’s “university corridor,” or the section between East 51st and East 56th streets.
For a fun night out, try some tacos at Tiki Taco (5400 Troost Ave.) before heading to Gael’s Public House & Sports (5424 Troost Ave.) to catch your fave soccer teams on one of their big screens.
The pub has all the usual brunch suspects and a few surprises like a berry parfait, breakfast pizza, and pastrami hash. Dinner-wise, Gael’s offers English favorites like cottage pie and shepherd’s pie.
As for Tiki Taco, you can snag birria tacos here, and of course nachos and quesadillas. But you can also select the tiki fries (curly fries smothered nacho style), a cheeseburger burrito, a tempura Baja taco (tempura shrimp or fish, purple cabbage, baja sauce, pico, queso fresco, corn tortilla) made on a Yoli tortilla, and more creative offerings.
Just want a quick chicken meal to go? At the north end of this section of Troost sits a legend: Go Chicken Go (5101 Troost Ave.).
Frying birds since 1969, you can’t really go wrong here: sandwich or meal and sides, just go with your fave and leave full. They’re known for their fried chicken sandwich – just lettuce, mayo and cheese. You’ll also want to grab a side of fried gizzards, something you won’t see at many joints. Trust us.
At the other end of this stretch is the innovative Barbacoa (5500 Troost Ave.) which you might think of as offering elevated-rustic Latin cuisine. The restaurant self-describes itself as a mix between classic Mexican cuisine and American barbecue traditions.
Look for the frijoles con veneno: refried pintos topped with pork chile and chicharrones as well as onion, cilantro and lime. In warm weather, consider the pescado: pan-seared barramundi, chili-lime slaw, with chile de arbol (those classic small, thin, hot, deep red peppers) and tortillas. Just about every dish on this menu is a winner, so just go and enjoy.
Troost also enjoys two adorable bakeries not far from the venues above.
Open 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday through Sunday, The Littlest Bake Shop (5511 Troost Ave.) is all in for the gluten-free and vegan crowd. They offer a full roster of coffee and tea faves, but can also do the brunch thing right: biscuits and gravy, tofu scrambles, baked smashed potatoes, even!
Just down the way from that vegan dream is Blackhole Bakery (5531 Troost Ave.), a French-focused patisserie (and mochi donut-erie) that also offers teas and locally roasted coffee. Some advice? Just get here early as they make what they make and when what they make for the day is gone, it’s gone.
Still hungry? Here are some more Troost gems
There seems to be more restaurants joining the Troost "restaurant row" every year, and the above suggestions only scratch the surface!
Here are other must-trys:
- Wah Gwaan: Jamaican and Nigerian cuisine
- Reggae Kitchen: Caribbean food
- Niecie’s Restaurant: Southern cooking and diner fare
- High Hopes: Artisan ice cream
- Baba’s Pantry & Bakery: Palestinian deli and pastries
- Chixen Kansas City: Chicken burgers and waffles
- Steak‘m Take‘m: Philly cheeseteaks
- BB’s Lawnside Blues & BBQ: Barbecue and live music
