Heather Jones was on a mission to find a shrimp po’ boy in Kansas City that tasted like home.
The Jackson, Mississippi, native moved up to Kansas City for college, and while she loved the area, she bemoaned the lack of establishments serving fresh Cajun staples like jambalaya and red beans and rice that she grew up with.
She says it wasn’t until 2019, when she met chef Chris Jones, owner of the Northland lunch spot Mudbug Cajun Po’ Boys, that she realized this Midwest town really could hold its own when it comes to Cajun fare. The Joneses married in 2020.
“I got a husband behind this shrimp po’boy,” Heather told KCUR’s Up To Date, laughing.
Chris had run the bustling New Orleans-style sandwich shop at 3524 NE Vivion Road in Kansas City North since 2016. Their bestseller, the shrimp po' boy, includes a healthy serving of succulent fried shrimp with polenta, lemon pepper slaw and a smoked onion aioli.
“People say, ‘Well, why would you put polenta on a po’ boy?’ Well, it's like eating shrimp and grits on a bun, you know, which is another southern staple,” Chris says. “It's just a fun, creative way to introduce that to people.”
Chris says Mudbug prides itself on sourcing fresh seafood at a fair price. In addition to their shrimp po' boy, they also offer the sandwich with red fish and crawfish, as well as smoked chicken.
Chris says their restaurant does both Cajun and Creole cuisine — and says it’s easiest to think of Cajun as country cooking and Creole as city cooking. “But it’s still just simple comfort food,” he explains.
Originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, Chris worked his way up in Kansas City’s restaurant industry for 20 years before opening Mudbug. He always knew he wanted to own a restaurant, but it was the loss of a good friend in a car accident that pushed him to finally open his own place.
“It made things, you know, real in real time,” Chris says. “That if you don't take your opportunities, you might not get them.”
While the Joneses have gained a local following for their hospitality and homestyle cooking, they say the business is still recovering from the COVID pandemic.
The Joneses lost a big portion of their original staff and have had to cut back business hours — they're open only between 11 a.m.-3 p.m., with dinner hours on Fridays. The restaurant is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
“I mean, it was a huge hit,” says Heather. “But we survived it. We're still here.”
She says the restaurant’s popularity has grown in recent years, especially as she sees more people from the south migrating to the Kansas City area.
“Each day, we get new people coming into the restaurant. They're like, ‘I had no idea you were here. This reminds me of my grandmother’s cooking, or my mother’s or whatever. Just reminds me of being at home,” Heather says.
- Heather Jones and chef Chris Jones, owners of Mudbug Cajun Po' Boys
