KANSAS CITY, Mo. — After a week of being snowed in, Kansas City restaurants are ready to step out – and eat out.
Nearly 250 restaurants are taking part in Kansas City’s Restaurant Week across both sides of the state line. Participating restaurants will debut new dishes and highlight ones that already exist at a good deal, while also giving back.
They’ll donate 10% of sales from each meal to the nonprofit House of Hope, which works to combat food insecurity in the Kansas City area.
“It's going to be packed,” Gianni Cavicchi, bar manager and bartender at Aixois in Brookside, said. "We were really slow during the storm, even closed on Monday and Tuesday, Wednesday. I think people have been inside a little too much. Walls are coming in, so they're all going to pop out."
Cavicchi’s advice to find good, safe parking among the leftover snow? Arrive early and be patient.
“Come a little earlier, you might want to circle a little. There is going to be a lot of turn around though,” he said.
Charlie Hooper’s is also gearing up for what they expect to be a busy week.
“To get extra people on your doors is the lifeblood for restaurants, especially small businesses like us. You know, the snow didn't help anybody,” Charlie Hooper’s general manager George Clarke said. “Not only do the restaurants get a little bit of a benefit, but some of the most marginalized people in the city really get some help and you know, we can all use a little bit of that right now.”
Both restaurants are ready for people to show up, and Kansas Citians couldn’t be more ready to show out.
“If we didn't have this it would be a slower or struggling time, but it's the exact opposite. We have 10 days of just absolute business,” Cavicchi said.
Restaurant Week runs through next Sunday, Jan. 19.
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KSHB 41 reporter Elyse Schoenig covers the cities of Shawnee and Mission. She also focuses on issues surrounding the cost of health care, saving for retirement and personal debt. Share your story idea with Elyse.
