Joyce Smith

After several relocations for their P. Moore & Moore BBQ brand over the past few years, Gary Paul and Patricia Moore landed a new kingdom at 5932 Prospect Ave. And they’ve now fully embraced their nicknames by calling the restaurant The King & Queen of Barbecue.

Just a few years ago, Tiki Taco was a humble spot on 39th Street with a few seats and a walk-up window, specializing Southern California-style tacos and burritos. Now it has shops on Troost and in Overland Park, too, and several more in the works.

Local Pig chef Alex Pope and food writer Jonathan Bender are planning the world's first Museum of BBQ inside the Crown Center Shops. It plans to tour visitors around the barbecue regions of America, including Kansas City

Constructed around 1940, the space at 3740 Troost Ave. was one of Kansas City's first purpose-built structures for grocery store giant Safeway. Developers plant to turn it into a business complex that will be "positive for the neighborhood."

Country Club Plaza, Oak Park Mall and Independence Center face similar challenges and starkly different futures.

Gerald Dunn is director of entertainment at the American Jazz Museum, a jazz saxophonist, radio personality and now pitmaster. Although Dunn Deal BBQ in Grandview is the "new kid on the block" in the competitive barbecue scene, there's not a lot of close options in its corner of the metro.

New eateries continue to open on Troost between 30th to 79th Street, with offerings that include African, Jamaican, Irish, Mexican and Middle Eastern cuisines. Restaurant owners hope that the rest of the city rallies around the historic thoroughfare as a business district of its own.

More apartments are being built in the long-established community, along with restaurants, breweries, coffee shops, a charcuterie, a piano bar, an arcade and retail shops. Waldo boosters believe the area could be entering something of a post-pandemic boom.