At this year’s James Beard Awards, one Kansas City restaurant could win national recognition for its contributions to the culinary scene.
Anjin, a Japanese-style pub in the Crossroads, was named a finalist for “Best New Restaurant.”
The restaurant isn’t like many in the Midwest, said chef and co-owner Nick Goellner. It’s made up of about 20 seats at a bar that overlooks the kitchen, where chefs serve Japanese-inspired cuisine that diners would be hard-pressed to find elsewhere in the city.
That’s all intentional. Goellner and his wife, Leslie Newsam Goellner, both prefer a more intimate dining experience. And they want to push the palates of Kansas City diners, to show the breadth of Japanese cuisine.
“We wanted to have a style of restaurant that wasn't just sushi or ramen,” Newsam Goellner told KCUR’s Up To Date.
Among Anjin’s most popular items is the Fried Sakura Pork Collar Sandwich, made with white miso egg salad, Taiwanese shredded cabbage and Carolina gold tonkatsu sauce on house-made shokupan milk bread.
And almost no diner leaves without a taste of the day’s soft-serve ice cream, which often features new and creative flavors.
Trying to get a chance to taste it yourself? Goellner says be prepared to eat outside prime hours, which get booked up fast. The most often available reservations are around 5:30 p.m., or after 9 p.m.
- Nick Goellner, co-owner, Anjin
- Leslie Newsam Goellner, co-owner, Anjin
