Food recs: The best late-night eats in Kansas City

A late-night meal is often associated with a night on the town — and maybe a couple too many drinks.

“You want something that’s going to soak up whatever you’ve been consuming previously in the night,” says Liz Cook, a freelance food writer and creator of the Substack Haterade. “Which is why I think a lot of late night food has typically been, like, heavier things like burritos and burgers.”

But Cook is quick to point out that a late-night meal isn’t reserved for the occasional post-club visit to Town Topic. Kansas City also has some pretty sophisticated haunts that serve well into the night.

Take Westport Cafe, which serves dinner until around 11:30 every night except Monday. The French-American bistro is a favorite for freelance writer Natalie Torres Gallagher.

“Close to my heart, close to my house, this is one of my favorite Sunday night spots,” Gallagher told KCUR’s Up To Date on Friday.

In addition to ordering the arugula salad with lemon truffle vinaigrette and a side of hand-cut pommes frites, she suggests cozying up to the bar to try the Bronson’s Milk Punch from veteran bartender Bronson Kistler.

If you’re in the mood for something more casual, Kansas City Star reporter David Hudnall recommends checking out the food trucks posted up at 18th Street and Central Avenue in Kansas City, Kansas.

“It’s kind of like a festival vibe,” he says.

Cook, Gallagher and Hudnall suggest below their top picks for the best late-night eats in the metro.

Liz Cook:

• Kculichi Sushi  seems designed to satisfy late-night cravings, which may explain why this truck on Southwest Boulevard is open until midnight on weekends. This is indulgent (in the best way) Japanese-Mexican-American fusion food, with sushi rolls that are fried, cheese-sauced, or stuffed with chicken and bacon. In lieu of wasabi, expect a chile toreado on the side.

• Town Topic is known by every Kansas Citian, but some of us need a refresher on the fact that it’s not just ever-available, it’s also good! The Broadway location is open 24/7 and a great place for a snackable smashburger or a Haystack — egg, bacon, cheese, and hashbrowns on soft Texas toast. 

• Gates Bar-B-Q on Brooklyn Avenue has old-school cool and the most generous hours — 11 on weeknights, midnight on Saturdays. My daytime Gates order is a nooner, but if I’m eating here after 9 p.m., I’m probably getting a wing pack. They’re deeply smoked, intensely spicy and unsauced, so you can snack while you drive home. 

• Westport Cafe is one of the only places in town where you can sip a cocktail and nibble on elegant small plates past 10 p.m. without the staff cleaning up around you. The vibes here are always good. Try the barbajuan ravioli for a French Riviera-meets-St. Louis surprise.

• Lucky Boys is decidedly a bar, with plenty of wood paneling and velvet paintings. But the small food menu, available until 1 a.m., is packed with messy-delicious sandwiches worth stopping in for even if you don’t drink. I like the “Fillet-O-Fish,” breaded in-house and topped with remoulade, shredded lettuce and American cheese. 

• miniBar may not have a massive menu, but it does have late-night accessibility. Until 2 a.m., you can order a very good, slightly fancy all-beef hotdog (carrot dogs available for the vegetarians) or a grilled pimento cheese sandwich gussied up with gochujang. Tuesday is chili night. Relevant to my interests: They serve a cocktail with dill-infused Malort and pickle syrup. 

• Tay’s Burger Shack in North Kansas City uses flavorful grass-fed beef, and has been frying their fries in tallow since long before the manosphere started crowing about seed oils. Open until midnight during the week, and 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.

David Hudnall:

• Muni is a Thai-Mexican mashup in the River Market from the owners of Waldo Thai and Buck Tui BBQ. The fusion is not subtle (birria dumplings with queso, gapow beef empanada with Thai basil and jasmine rice), but it hits the spot. Kitchen is open until midnight Tuesday to Sunday. 

• The Peanut is arguably the best bar food in Kansas City. Get the wings, or the BLT. The South Plaza location serves food until midnight Monday to Saturday, and until 11 p.m. Sundays. Downtown serves until 1 a.m. from Monday to Saturday, and 11 p.m. on Sundays.

• Tannin Wine Bar & Kitchen is a Crossroads standby that’s ideal for meals before or after a show. Its late-night menu is available from 10 to about 11:30 on weeknights, 11 p.m. to about 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. The $18 wagyu burger is a longtime favorite; I like the steak frites or the braised pork belly BLT. 

• 18th Street and Central Avenue food trucks have posted up at this Kansas City, Kansas, intersection for the past couple of years, creating an environment reminiscent of a Mexican street fair. Several operators serve late into the evening, although the Unified Government has taken issue with the hours and noise, resulting in a few crackdowns. They’re currently all clear, though. 

• Charlie Hooper’s is a longtime Brookside bar that is a little less divey and a little more corporate than it once was. But it’s still a great neighborhood joint, with a kitchen that serves until 2 every night of the week. I eat like a toddler here — chicken tenders, hot dog, nachos — but the menu is large enough to accommodate most diners. 

Natalie Torres Gallagher:

• Harry’s Bar & Tables in Westport is my “something for everyone” recommendation, despite the fact that it does not have a deep-fryer and therefore does not offer fries. The menu has a smattering of New Orleans-inspired dishes, pub-style pizza with cracker crust, and a great patty melt. Food is served until 1:30 seven nights a week. 

• Jerusalem Cafe’s Westport restaurant closes at 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Then, they start serving from their food truck, parked just up the street on Westport Road. You can find spicy gyros, falafel, hummus and more until 2 a.m. 

• Taqueria la Nueva, right around the corner from Missie B’s, offers all the usual suspects — tacos, quesadillas, burritos, nachos — until 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. If you need to fuel up between drag shows and dance floor spins, the loaded fries and birria pizza are particularly satisfying.

• The Granfalloon is a Plaza mainstay with an impressively large menu until 11 every night. Then, it switches to an abbreviated late-night menu. You’ll find some very satisfying burnt end nachos on both menus.

• Conchita Tacos can be ordered at Kon Tiki lounge until 11 seven nights a week. Al pastor, carne asada, shrimp, fish, chorizo, and mushroom tacos make for a convenient solution to any appetite — especially since Conchita offers combo packs of 6, 12, 24 and 36.

• Corvino Supper Club and the adjoining Songbird cocktail lounge lets me satisfy my burger craving until 11 p.m. on weekends. The Songbird kitchen serves fancy bar snacks — including my beloved cheeseburger, with two smashed patties and charred onions — until 10:30 p.m. Thursday, Sunday, and Monday, and until 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. 

• El Pueblito has an all-day breakfast menu that pairs perfectly with a michelada or two. This Southwest Boulevard mainstay serves food until midnight during the week and 4:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. Stop in the early hours and catch a unique microcosm of KC culture. 

• Moretina’s Caddy Shack in Columbus Park serves food until 1 a.m. Everyone knows and loves the Sicilian-style thin-crust pizza, with good reason — the proprietary sauce is worth a nod. But I’m an advocate for the extensive selection of appetizers — Hello, golden baskets of toasted ravioli, deep-fried green beans and onion rings! — and the meatball sub.

• Burritos To Go at 1235 Central Ave. in Kansas City, Kansas, is open until 2 a.m. Saturdays. Their generously stuffed burritos come with a side of refried beans and rice, all for the bargain price of around $4. Vegetarian options are available. My favorite is the chile relleno. 

• The Easy Inn in Strawberry Hill closes the kitchen at 10 most nights, but they usually keep things open until 10:30 on Taco Wednesday. Pop in for what has to be the best deal in the metro: three tacos (beef or veggie, offered in hard shell or soft tortillas), a can of Tecate and a shot of tequila for five bucks. 

• Nighthawk is where to find gold-standard bar food (spiced popcorn, loaded totchos, chicken fingies) designed to soak up your sins. This happening, live music club is in the basement level of the Kansas City Hotel. Nighthawk serves food until 11:30 p.m. Thursday through Sunday.
   
• XO’s kitchen is open until 10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday and 11:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. If you haven’t made it to this hi-fi listening bar in the Westside, you’re missing out on some fantastic Japanese-inspired small plates — not to mention one of the best natural wine lists in town.