BBQ News: Q39 expanding to OPKS in 2017

[gblowfish]

According to the KC Star, they're taking over Heyward's old location on Antioch:

Just two years after opening on 39th Street’s restaurant row, Q39 is expanding.

Owner Rob Magee has purchased the former Hayward’s Pit Bar-B-Que building and land at 11051 Antioch Road in Overland Park. After a major interior and exterior renovation, including new landscaping and a new parking lot, he plans to open a Q39 barbecue restaurant there in spring 2017.

Arizona-based Realm Architecture + Design designed the original location and also will design the new 7,100-square-foot restaurant with a similar urban-rustic decor.

The dining room will seat more than 200 people. It also will have a full-service patio seating up to 104 people on the north side, a private dining space for up to 25 people, and a full-service bar seating up to 20. Like the 39th Street location, the Overland Park restaurant will have a large to-go area, but it will be double in size.

With the surrounding offices, hotels, and residential, as well as easy access off of Interstate 435, Magee said he “couldn’t ask for a better demographic.”

Magee also is expanding the original location. He is taking over a 1,100-square-foot space to the east of the restaurant at 1000 W. 39th St. Construction is scheduled to begin in late summer and completed by early fall for a November opening.

The new space will seat 48 people and include a large two-level deck and indoor/outdoor bar separated by garage doors and covered by a waterproof pergola. The 40 outdoor seats will be available for full-service dining during warmer weather.

Magee said the expansion will allow for more private functions, as well as more seating to reduce wait times for dine-in customers.

“It’s not to bring in more people. We want to make sure we take care of our current clientele,” he said.

Magee, who has a degree from the acclaimed Culinary Institute of America, spent three decades working in food and beverage for top area hotels. But on the side, Magee and his wife, Kelly, along with their competitive team, Munchin’ Hogs, won first-place awards for barbeque competitions across the country. They were entering as many as 40 events annually.

His longtime goal was to offer the same “competition level” barbecue to the public but in a full-service restaurant with upgraded beers, wines and specialty cocktails. So in mid-2013, he leased a 5,623-square-foot former Asian restaurant space and spent months renovating it for his first Q39 restaurant. It opened in April 2014, just west of Southwest Trafficway.

The urban-rustic decor features brick, exposed ceilings, stained concrete floors and distressed wood, along with an open kitchen. Barn doors open to a private dining area seating up to 48 people (dubbed the Blue Ribbon room). Some of the team’s other awards are on display in the main dining room.

The scratch kitchen offers traditional barbecue items along with innovative ones.

Classics include certified Black Angus beef brisket, spare ribs, and smoked and char-grilled chicken.

Some of more innovative items include the popular wood-fired grilled salmon salad with housemade balsamic herb dressing, the Ball Park Pork (with pulled pork, white cheddar cheese, pickles and yellow mustard on a pretzel bun), and the Burnt End Burger (topped with sliced burnt ends, spicy pickle slaw and classic sauce).

Sides include the gluten-free white bean cassoulet (sausage, onion, tomato and thyme). Magee also sells some of his sauces and rubs.

He had long planned on having three area restaurants before expanding to other cities. He plans a Northland location on Missouri 152 near Liberty for 2020.

New owners relocated Hayward’s Pit Bar-B-Que to Lenexa.

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/busin...#storylink=cpy

[gblowfish]

Also, Gates on US 40 is supposed to be back open this fall!
From the Independence Examiner today:

Gates Bar-B-Q is another stop closer to returning to west Independence.

The location at 10440 E. U.S. 40, which was destroyed in an accidental fire in February, has been rebuilt from the ground up and is slated open in the fall. On Monday, the Independence City Council approved the liquor license for the rebuilt restaurant, which originally opened there in 1979 as the fifth Gates restaurant in the metro area.

Approval did not come without some objection, though, as some neighbors don't like the idea of an outdoor patio that has been added to the footprint on the northeast corner. They remember the late-night noise, trash and other issues created from a bar that used to reside in the building across the parking lot that Gates owned and leased.

“That is past, and they have no plans for the building other than to convert it to office space,” said John Carnes, the lawyer assisting Gates.

Julie McCluyse, whose backyard is adjacent to the Gates lot, isn't so positive about that. In addition to her issues stemming from the bar, she also said she would like to see Gates rebuild the part of the fence between their properties that had to be knocked down for fire equipment last year.

“Mr. Gates didn't keep his word before; I'm not sure why he'd keep his word now,” she said. “Gates has not been the best neighbor to me.”

Another neighbor, Jim Terry, he was simply opposed to the outdoor patio.

“We are encouraging Gates to re-open,” he said. “It's economically good for the area.”

George Gates, son of owner Ollie Gates, said the outdoor patio would have four tables and seating for 20. The restaurant also will have enclosed area apart from the main dining area with clear outdoor viewing. The younger Gates said he couldn't offer more than his word, but he reiterated the office space plan for across the parking lot and said the restaurant strives to be a good neighbor.

“We don't want any problems there,” he said. “We want to be part of the community.”

The approval vote was 6-1, as Council Member Karen DeLuccie said her objection stemmed solely from the patio.

“I'm very happy you're investing on 40 highway,” said Mayor Eileen Weir, who also resides in the adjacent Blue Ridge Boulevard neighborhood. “It's hard to get new investment or reinvestment there, partly because the neighborhoods are so close.”

Council Member Tom Van Camp, who represents the district where Gates resides, offered to help communication between the neighbors and the restaurant.

[alpha_omega]

Great news on Gates....BBQ before the game will be back.

Q39....doesn't 48 people seem kind of small?

[cookster50]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

Q39....doesn't 48 people seem kind of small?

Not with the girth of those of us that love BBQ.