{"id":532729,"date":"2026-01-21T18:23:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/532729\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T18:23:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:23:13","slug":"5-kansas-city-restaurants-and-bars-named-james-beard-semifinalists-kcur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/532729\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Kansas City restaurants and bars named James Beard semifinalists | KCUR"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This is a developing story and will be updated.<\/p>\n<p>An outstanding cocktail service, an informal Japanese-inspired pub, and a Shawnee speakeasy are among the Kansas City area restaurants and bars nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award this year.<\/p>\n<p>Also among the honorees was Helen Jo Leach, executive pastry chef at The Town Company in downtown Kansas City, and her husband, Executive Chef Johnny Leach. The restaurant specializes in locally-sourced food centered around a white oak burning hearth. This is the second year Town Company has been recognized in two categories.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s nominees were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/beardfoundation\/?hl=en\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">announced on Instagram<\/a> on Wednesday morning. The James Beard Foundation will announce finalists for each category in early April, and the winners will be announced in Chicago in June.<\/p>\n<p>Winning a James Beard Foundation Award can propel a restaurant and its chef into the national spotlight. They\u2019re often called the \u201cOscars of the food world,\u201d and the honor carries immense influence.<\/p>\n<p>The awards were established in 1986, to honor cookbook author James Beard, and the foundation promotes equitable and diverse food culture through education, advocacy, and its awards program.<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"The husband and wife team of executive chef Johnny Leach and executive pastry chef Helen Jo Leach, at The Town Company. Helen Jo grows fresh herbs like lemon balm to use as garnishes.\"  width=\"880\" height=\"587\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769019792_375_.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Julie Denesha<\/p>\n<p>\/<\/p>\n<p>KCUR 89.3<\/p>\n<p>The husband and wife team of executive chef Johnny Leach and executive pastry chef Helen Jo Leach at The Town Company. Helen Jo grows fresh herbs like lemon balm to use as garnishes.<\/p>\n<p>Kansas City had seven nominations in 2025, although no restaurants or bars ended up making the shortlist of finalists.<\/p>\n<p>Here are the local chefs and establishments that made the national and regional lists this year.<\/p>\n<p><b>Best New Restaurant<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.anjinkc.com\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Anjin<\/a>, Kansas City, Missouri<\/p>\n<p><b>Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Helen Jo Leach, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hotelkc.com\/dine\/the-town-company\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Town Company<\/a>, Kansas City, Missouri<\/p>\n<p><b>Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Diana Condori, <a href=\"https:\/\/fernbarkc.com\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Fern Bar<\/a>, Kansas City, Missouri<\/p>\n<p><b>Best Chef: Midwest\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Johnny Leach, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hotelkc.com\/dine\/the-town-company\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">The Town Company<\/a>, Kansas City, Missouri<\/p>\n<p>Swetha Newcomb, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ofcoursekc.com\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Of Course<\/a>, Overland Park, Kansas<\/p>\n<p><b>Outstanding Bar<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.drasticbar.com\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Drastic Measures<\/a>, Shawnee, Kansas<\/p>\n<p>    <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"Image\" alt=\"A bowl of pav phaji, tomato-based Indian curry with bread.\"  width=\"880\" height=\"704\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769019793_304_.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p> Of Course Kitchen &amp; Company<\/p>\n<p>Swetha Newcomb from Of Course Kitchen &amp; Company in Overland Park, Kansas, was named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Best Chef: Midwest.<\/p>\n<p><b>Other Missouri and Kansas restaurants<\/b><b>Best Chef: Midwest<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Jason Rickard and Jordan Rickard, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fioritoristorante.com\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">FioRito<\/a> in Wichita, Kansas<\/p>\n<p><b>Outstanding Restaurant<\/b><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.takeroothospitality.com\/vicia\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Vicia<\/a> in St. Louis<\/p>\n<p>                                    <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is a developing story and will be updated. An outstanding cocktail service, an informal Japanese-inspired pub, and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":532730,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[236060,236061,236062,51,40469,236063,50,236064,236065,52],"class_list":["post-532729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-anjin","tag-drastic-measures","tag-fern-bar","tag-headlines","tag-james-beard","tag-kansas-city-restaurants","tag-news","tag-of-course","tag-the-town-company","tag-top-stories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115934488687160049","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}