KCLunchSpots.com
MONDAY, AUGUST 4, 2008
Boy these people were smart. Owners Jason and Shannon Pryor have only been in business four years but, with new UMKC dorms opening up and a dearth of good food and drink options within walking distance, they seem like geniuses for opening up Pizza 51 at Oak and 51st.
This stretch of 51st street (between Oak and Brookside Boulevard) is the only commercial "district" that caters to a college clientele in the slightest. Kin Lin is a few doors down, as is a Subway and Muddy's Coffee house. Main street has a few things to pique the interest of your average college student--Eggcetera (owner of the stupidest name in the metro, not counting hair salons), The Peanut, Minsky's and of course Planet Sub, who recently tore down their entire building in order to build a brand new one right next to it. Dumbasses. There is also a CVS pharmacy at which college students can procure much needed Bush light, hair dye and birth control products.
Yet with the exception of Muddy's, Pizza 51 is the joint that feels most like a college neighborhood hangout. A lot of students work there, and certainly a lot of them eat there too. I always see younger professorial types hanging out as well, drinking pitchers of boulevard until 8:30pm when their kids need to be put to bed. The space is a converted gas station, but very bright in the interior thanks to a wall of overhead doors facing Oak Street. Like many rehabs, it tends to get noisy when crowded, which is most weekend evenings. For lunch, it's a much more casual affair.
This place is open 7 days a week at least until 10 p.m. (9 p.m. in Winter). And believe it or not, their pizza is good. I wouldn't characterize it as gourmet, but it certainly is freshly prepared, has a nice crust and some high-quality toppings.
At most places, pizza is hard to do for lunch. First, you have to be sure that a place sells slices. If not, you have to wrangle a coworker or two into splitting a pizza with you. So you are either going to eat a slice that has been sitting under a heat lamp or you are going to wait a while for a fresh pie. Even Whole Foods, who offers really good slices, pre-bakes them and re-heats upon ordering. Not at Pizza 51.
Here's the deal. You can get a slice here any time of day, with any toppings you want. How do they do it? Well Each slice is made to order of course. Slices start at $3 but they are huge, like as big as your head huge. They arrive on metal trays designed for entire pizzas. These slices are so big that they cross-cut them into rectangular sub-slices. You know those crappy pennants you get for free at sporting events? Now you got the idea.
So, think about these slices more like individual pizzas, even though they are decidedly triangular. Go ahead and spend a few bucks on toppings--you won't be hungry. You can get 5 toppings on a slice for 5.51 which seems like a decent deal. They also have daily lunch specials which is usually a modest break on price for a particular slice and drink.
My only complaint is that the pizza tends to be slightly undercooked as a rule. Not in a disgusting, raw way, but the cheese is not sufficiently brown and the crust tends to be sloppy and limp, because it is a thinner crust than most. So when i go, I tend to order mine 'well done' and typically this solves the problem.
They have other stuff on the menu--subs, calzones, and (ugh) wraps--but I don't usually bother so ask someone else how they are. I know for a fact that the salads are typical pizza place affairs: iceberg lettuce, pre-made in a plastic container with shredded cheese and premade croutons as toppings. Add a healthy dollop of sysco salad dressing from a gallon jug and you're in business. Or not.
Everything is ordered from the front counter and delivered to your table when it is ready. Pizza slices can take longer to come out to your table because they are not pre-baked, but you can get in and out of Pizza 51 in a half hour easily. The location of the counter is a little odd and can get cramped when there is a line. It would be nice if this place changed to table service for dinner, since most people are getting whole pies and drinks.
There is a decent concrete patio enclosed by a cast iron fence. It feels a little like a cage since you can only enter and exit through the restaurant. But it can seat as many or more people than the interior. With the newly established smoking ban in full effect, expect it to be moderately stinky at certain hours. If it stays this hot, you won't want to be out there anyway.
So kudos for the solid business plan, available slices and tasty pizza. Not the most remarkable place in the world, but a welcome addition to the neighborhood and one that I tend to visit with some regularity. I also like that they creatively re-purposed an interesting existing structure. Hear that Planet Sub?
Next Article >By Charles Ferruzza
Six or seven years ago, when I used to give a damn about having a waistline, I used to work out with a personal trainer who thought pizza was the worst possible thing any human could ingest. "It's baked fat!" she screamed. Well, I suppose it is, but every once in a while I absolutely crave it, cholesterol be damned.
When I do succumb to the siren call of the pizza oven, I shamelessly go for the most decadent pie imaginable. At the two-week-old Pizza 51, located in a former service station at 5060 Oak Street, the Cowtown Lover's Pizza is heaped with pepperoni, sausage, tiny beef meatballs and Canadian bacon. And lots and lots of cheese. It was so good that I could have finished it in a single sitting if I hadn't accidentally ordered (and eaten) the garlic-and-mozzarella breadsticks, a Caesar salad and a pepperoni calzone.
The place was opened on a budget by young couple Jason and Shannon Pryor, who shrewdly noted that the location was within walking distance of UMKC and Rockhurst. It wasn't as if they had no money; they actually bought the old garage, had three trucks of concrete poured inside to level the floors, and installed new plumbing and electrical work. The place looks great -- and it's usually crawling with students.
Now they need to spend a little more money. Plastic forks and knives are fine for a pizza joint, but not the cheapest plastic knives, which can barely saw through baked pizza dough. Upgrade the flatware, I say, and actually train the dazed and confused college kids who work the counter; the night I was there, I felt like I was dealing with Jeff Spicoli from Fast Times at Ridgemont High.
The good news is that you don't have to spend a lot of dough for excellent pizza and salads. Only one of Pizza 51's dressings is house-made -- chef Scott Dutra's slightly sweet, creamy green-herb vinaigrette -- but it's very good. The place serves pizza until 11 p.m. on weekends, and the patio is a great people-watching spot, night or day.
Next Article >Lauren Chapin
The Kansas City Star
Published: Thursday, December 16, 2004
Everybody wants a slice of the pie.
Young or old, rich or poor, parents or kids, students or teachers, pizza is the American way to eat. Give us a thrifty, hand-held meal, and we're satisfied. At Pizza 51, it's easy to find happiness by the slice.
Step through the plate-glass door, sashay up to the order counter and behold a bounty that includes no fewer than 22 toppings worked into slices, three sizes of pies, specialty pizzas and calzones, sandwiches and wraps. There are also salads, breadsticks and Boulevard beer on tap.
Customers place their orders, pay the cashier and take a seat. The wait staff brings the order to the table, but customers fill their own drinks. Instead of order numbers, you prop a rock star postcard encased in Plexiglas on the table. One night, I'm Kurt Cobain. At lunch, I'm the Beatles.
Jason and Shannon Pryor converted the Plaza Auto Repair into a made-to-order pizza parlor. It took the young couple 18 months to retrofit the long, narrow space with concrete floors and double-wide garage doors into a working pizza kitchen. An assemblage of tables fronts the tiny kitchen, which is dwarfed by a massive 550-degree oven. A young and agile pizza-making crew wafts and weaves around one another, leaving the guy in the corner just enough space to toss and twirl pizza dough a foot or so over his head.
The food is darn tasty.
Heaping side salads ($1.99) are strewn with onions, mushrooms, black olives, green peppers, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and croutons. Dressings are served on the side. Try the herb vinaigrette, a luxurious sage, basil, tarragon and oregano concoction.
The yeasty breadsticks ($1) are as long and thick as an Esplendido cigar. They come plain, with garlic, with mozzarella or both ($1.51). Indulge in the garlic ones, unless you wimp out and flick the whole-roasted cloves off.
Most customers will be quite happy with a slice of the pie. The mongo-size slices are 9 inches wide at the top and taper to a point 13 inches later. And the stuff is cheap. Order a cheese slice and pay $2.51, plus 69 cents for each additional ingredient.
Piled high with mushrooms, black olives, broccoli, onions, green peppers and spinach, the Veggie Delight ($4.99) is a frugal way to eat your five-a-day in one sitting. The green vegetables are as bright as a spring meadow. Beneath the vegetables, a homemade sauce glazes the dough. On another visit, I opt for a calzone ($3.51 plus 69 cents per topping), a pizza-in-the round concept that originated in Naples and serves one, perhaps two. With no one to please but myself, I order a Canadian bacon and pineapple combination. The same whisper-thin pizza crust is folded over the oregano-infused pizza sauce, ricotta and mozzarella cheese.
Clearly the word is out. During lunch, Pizza 51 is packed.
At this pizzeria, located across the street from the western boundary of the University of Missouri-Kansas City at 51st and Oak streets and a block from the law school, a meal won't wreck a college kid's budget. Nor will it wreck a family budget, as I learn the night I take four kids to dinner.
The girls, ages 11 to 15, order their own, custom-designed slices of pizza. They inhale their salads, fill then refill their drinks (just once) and annihilate their slices. Pretty soon they bounce up and down like bobbleheads in their booth, giggling, guffawing and goofing off.
The girls like the place. They like its spiffed-up, grunge-garage look. It's laid-back and noisy, so nobody cares if they're being giggly and silly, especially Mom. Most of all, they like the place because they can order their own slice of the pie. They don't have to share or argue about the last piece, the biggest piece or who had the most pieces.
And for a parent chaperoning kids, that's happiness, no matter how you slice it.
Next Article >Jim Davis
The Kansas City Business Journal
Published: August 25, 2006
When Jason Pryor lived in Atlanta, one of his favorite places to eat was a pizza joint favored by students from Georgia State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The restaurant was in an old gas station. Pryor said he loved the ambiance -- big doors that rolled up when the weather was nice and patio service in the area where cars used to wait for repairs.
So after Pryor and his wife, Shannon, moved to Kansas City in 2001, he hungered for a place to replicate the experience. A year later, he saw a for-sale sign on a closed service station across the street from the University of Missouri-Kansas City.
The Pryors bought the property in April 2004. Their restaurant, Pizza 51, opened five months later at 5060 Oak St.
Pizza 51 is part of a trend. A growing number of old gas stations have become restaurants, coffee shops and other kinds of commercial space.
Andrew Bracker, Kansas City's brownfields coordinator, said the stations' recycling is a showpiece of the program. Several sites will be featured in a "smart growth" tour Bracker plans for the fall. The projects have become more affordable as additional financial assistance comes from all levels of government, Bracker said. The work can become a catalyst for further change, he said.
"Small sites like this change people's perception of what's possible," he said. "They don't have to walk away because of fear of liability or contamination."
At Pizza 51, the Pryors retained the structure's walls but gutted its interior, installing new plumbing, and electrical and mechanical systems. The reclamation cost about $100,000.
Diners still get a sense of the property's lineage -- large photos picturing the area as it looked in the 1920s, when the station was built, share wall space with vintage auto-related signs -- while watching a flat-screen TV or looking out large windows at the leafy neighborhood.
"I'm an urban guy," Jason Pryor said. "I'm not a big fan of developers who see a green space and think about how they can turn it brown."
Next Article >Pizza 51, 5060 Oak, 816-531-1151
Pizza 51 serves slices so big, they come on trays, not plates, proving that just one piece of pizza can be a meal. Housed in an old filling station ringed by pink neon lights, the shop plays on a Route 66 theme, with a mural of license plates from each state that forms a map of the country. The atmosphere's great, but we're most in love with the less common toppings -- cream cheese, feta cheese, green olives, Roma tomatoes -- and the gluttony-inspiring, all-meat "Cowtown Lovers" slice with pepperoni, sausage and Canadian bacon.
Next Article >The Kansas City Star
Thursday November 18, 2004
By Lauren Chapin
From around the corner and down the block from Pizza 51, I can smell the pizza. The baking dough, the bit of spice in the sauce, the aroma of melting cheese.
One bite and I conclude: This pizza is wicked good.
The crust is saltine cracker-thin with just a gilding of the well-seasoned sauce and a mother lode of toppings. I order a slice of the cheese ($2.51) and a slice of the Veggie Delight ($4.99). These are big boy slices, so big that the slice is then cut into smaller but maneuverable diamonds and triangles. Ingredients don't tumble off into my lap, the slices don't droop down over my hand like a magician's handkerchief.
The veggie slice is a grass-green medley of broccoli, spinach, and green peppers, muted by the soft earth tones of mushrooms, onions, and black olives. The 550-degree oven quick-bakes the crusts into a crispy softness and brings out the brilliant color of the vegetables while keeping them beautifully crunchy.
Jason and Shannon Pryor spent two years transforming the Plaza Auto gas station with concrete floor and garage door into a hot new joint. Customers step inside the front door and place orders at the counter. Then they slide down a narrow hall to the dining area, snag a table and cool their heels until the wait staff delivers the goods.
The staff also makes terrific calzones ($3.51 for mozzarella and ricotta, 60 cents for additional ingredients) and sandwiches or wraps. The Italian sausage in the calzone is sweet from a restrained use of fennel, and the meatballs in the wrap by the same name are rolled inside a sun-dried tomato wrap.
Pizza 51 serves beer, wine and homemade cookies. Seating can be dicey at high noon, but turnover is quick. Open since Sept. 15, Pizza 51 is real good - and a real deal.
Pizza 51: 5060 Oak St. (816) 531-1151. Hours: 11 am to 10 pm Monday through Thursday, 11 am to 10 pm Friday and Saturday.
Next Article >The Wednesday Magazine
August 2005
The Southtown Environment and Public Works committee selected Pizza 51, 5060 Oak St., for the August Sparkle Award. Owners Jason and Shannon Pryor purchased this former gas station and auto repair shop in June of 2004 and completely gutted the building. Wanting to retain the urban landscape of the area, the owners kept the garage intact, brought in 3 trucks of concrete to level the floor, installed new plumbing and electricity, and converted it into Pizza 51. This classic pizza joint, which caters to the neighborhood and university crowd, opened in September of 2004.
Pizza 51 provides pizza, salads, sandwiches, beer and wine. It is open from 11 am to 10 pm and employs 22 people. Earlier this year, Pizza 51 owners were recipients of one of the Annual Beautification Awards at Benjamin Ranch.
Congratulations to Pizza 51 for the investment made and for making a difference in Southtown!
Next Article >The Kansas City Star
Thursday October 12, 2004
By Joyce Smith
Jason Pryor has spent nearly 15 years with Costco Wholesale Co, here and elsewhere, and while he calls it a great company, he wanted more direct control over his career growth.
"I wanted the freedom of self-proprietorship", he said. "If I was going to work that hard I wanted to do it for myself. And there's also the pride factor, the pride in creating something and in being more a part of the community".
So two years ago, Pryor and his wife, Shannon Pryor, put a deposit on an old gas station at 5060 Oak St. It's taken that long to get permits and licenses, do environmental studies, and gut and remodel the space for a restaurant.
While he is still working at Costco part time, Jason Pryor said the business and his investment in the building are his future.
Pizza 51 is a dine-in and carryout restaurant that offers East Coast-style pizza by the slice - thin crust, lots of toppings.
It also offers calzones, full-size pizzas, salads, wraps, sandwiches, beer and wine.
The couple lives just a few blocks from the restaurant. They liked the location by the University if Missouri-Kansas City and got a bonus when the university announced the construction of 561 dorm rooms across the street.
Pizza 51 already is attracting office workers from the nearby Russell Stover Candies, Midwest Research Institute and the Kansas City Board of Trade, along with area residents.
The black, red and gray dining room gets lots of natural light from three garage doors on the east side. A bright red canopy covers the patio seating area. "Nothing draws a crowd like a crowd: when the patio is busy it turns heads," Jason Pryor said.
Next Article >Update: Pizza 51 coming to Fairway
Nearly seven years after opening across from UMKC, Pizza 51 is expanding. Co-owner Jason Pryor said he's inked a deal to buy the former Sinclair station site at 5938 Mission Road, Fairway.
More >
Pizza 51 owner says deal on new Fairway location still moving forward
The original Pizza 51 location in Brookside is in a remodelled filling station, as well. Pizza 51 owner Jason Pryor on Thursday told PVPost.com that his company was moving forward with plans to open a new location in the abandoned service station at 60th Street and Mission Road in Fairway.
More >
Construction begins on new Mission Road Pizza 51 location in Fairway
Pizza 51 owner Jason Pryor and his family held a small groundbreaking ceremony recently on the site of their new restaurant, Pizza 51 West, to be located in the vacated service station at the intersection of Mission Road and 59th Street.
More >
Local Reviews - Pitch.com
It's hard to believe UMKC student favorite and south Plaza staple Pizza 51 has been around since just 2004.
More >
Pizza 51 plans second Kansas City-area restaurant at former Sinclair
Gas station restaurant concept Pizza 51 wants to give customers a chance to fill up at a second Kansas City-area location. Owner Jason Pryor said he is in negotiations to buy the former Sinclair Oil station at the southwest corner of 60th Street and Mission Road in Fairway.
More >
Pizza 51 looking at second location in former Sinclair gas station
Pizza 51 could be coming to Fairway. Pizza 51 is apparently looking at another former gas station as it considers opening a second pizza shop. Krista Klaus of the Kansas City Business Journal reports that Pizza 51 owner Jason Pryor is in negotiations to buy the former Sinclair Oil station at 60th and Mission in Fairway.
More >
Check out the bathroom!
Increasingly, the room that formerly dare not be named is no longer a design afterthought. Sometimes restrooms in public places can be downright cool.
More >
New eatery part of UMKC's urban renewal
Students and area residents are once again filling up at the old gas station on the corner of 51st St. and Oak St. But instead choosing what grade of octane they'll have, today their deciding whether they want pepperoni or sausage, Bud or Bud Light.
More >
Battle of the dishes: d'Bronx versus Pizza 51 slices
This battle pits d'Bronx -- the New York style shop known for its thin crust pizza -- and just to mix things up, we'll order from the Overland Park location rather than the original shop on 39th Street. Over in the South Plaza area, it's Pizza 51 -- with the oversized wedges designed to feed the growing college students at nearby UMKC.
More >
Pizza 51: 5060 Oak St - KCLunchSpots.com
Boy these people were smart. Owners Jason and Shannon Pryor have only been in business four years but, with new UMKC dorms opening up and a dearth of good food and drink options within walking distance, they seem like geniuses for opening up Pizza 51 at Oak and 51st.
More >
New Kids on the Block
When I do succumb to the siren call of the pizza oven, I shamelessly go for the most decadent pie imaginable. At the two-week-old Pizza 51, located in a former service station at 5060 Oak Street, the Cowtown Lover's Pizza is heaped with pepperoni, sausage, tiny beef meatballs and Canadian bacon. And lots and lots of cheese. It was so good...
More >
Pizza 51 is the area; Bring the family and stay within your budget, too
Young or old, rich or poor, parents or kids, students or teachers, pizza is the American way to eat. Give us a thrifty, hand-held meal, and we're satisfied. At Pizza 51, it's easy to find happiness by the slice.
More >
Fueling change: Reclaimed gas stations become catalyst for urban renewal
Pizza 51 is part of a trend. A growing number of old gas stations have become restaurants, coffee shops and other kinds of commercial space.
More >
Best Pizza Pitch Magazine 2006
Pizza 51 serves slices so big, they come on trays, not plates, proving that just one piece of pizza can be a meal.
More >
Fill Up at Pizza 51
From around the corner and down the block from Pizza 51, I can smell the pizza. The baking dough, the bit of spice in the sauce, the aroma of melting cheese.
More >
Pizza 51 Sparkles!
The Southtown Environment and Public Works committee selected Pizza 51, 5060 Oak St., for the August Sparkle Award. Owners Jason and Shannon Pryor purchased this former gas station and auto repair shop in June of 2004 and completely gutted the building.
More >
Pizza Project Takes Over Gas Station
"I wanted the freedom of self-proprietorship", he said. "If I was going to work that hard I wanted to do it for myself. And there's also the pride factor, the pride in creating something and in being more a part of the community".
More >
By Joyce Smith
Nearly seven years after opening across from UMKC, Pizza 51 is expanding.
Co-owner Jason Pryor said he's inked a deal to buy the former Sinclair station site at 5938 Mission Road, Fairway.
He hopes to open Pizza 51 West there in three or four months. It will have 20 to 30 full-time and part-time employees.
In 2002, Pryor and his wife, Shannon Pryor, put a deposit on an old gas station at 5060 Oak St., and spent two years getting permits and licenses, doing environmental studies, and gutting and remodeling the space for Pizza 51.
The dine-in and carryout restaurant offers East Coast-style pizza by the slice - thin crust, lots of toppings, along with calzones, full-size pizzas, salads, wraps, sandwiches, beer and wine.
The couple lives just a few blocks from the restaurant and liked the location by the University of Missouri-Kansas.
"We've always said Pizza 51 was a college pizza joint. But the new one will be a neighborhood pizza joint," Jason Pryor said of his second location. "It will still have the feel of the gas station with three bays of garage doors and a patio."
The Kansas City Health Department recently recognized Pizza 51 with one of its "Grade A Food Excellence Awards" for demonstrating excellence in compliance with the city's food code and other public health standards. While all food establishments in Kansas City are inspected regularly, the award winners substantially exceeded standards, the department said.
Next Article >PVPost.com
February 4, 2011
The original Pizza 51 location in Brookside is in a remodelled filling station, as well.
Pizza 51 owner Jason Pryor on Thursday told PVPost.com that his company was moving forward with plans to open a new location in the abandoned service station at 60th Street and Mission Road in Fairway.
A few weeks ago, Pryor told the Fairway city council the building's owners had a Feb. 4 deadline for closing the sale of the property. But the inclement weather combined with the complexities of having a Missouri-based company purchasing a property in Kansas have pushed the deadline back.
"We're definitely still moving forward, it's just taking a little longer than we thought," Pryor said. "We're looking at getting things wrapped up in the next two or three weeks."
Next Article >PVPost.com
May 20, 2011
Pizza 51 owner Jason Pryor and his family held a small groundbreaking ceremony recently on the site of their new restaurant, Pizza 51 West, to be located in the vacated service station at the intersection of Mission Road and 59th Street.
Pryor was able to move forward with plans for the restaurant, which will offer the same pizza products as the original restaurant in Brookside, after the Fairway City Council approved a tax-incentive package in January.
Pryor said he received the building permit for the new restaurant on Monday and demolition started Tuesday. There will be construction activity on the site until the restaurants ready to open, probably in August, Pryor said. Pryor will be posting updates on the restaurant's progress on their Facebook page.
Next Article >Pitch.com
It's hard to believe UMKC student favorite and south Plaza staple Pizza 51 has been around since just 2004. Certainly no student - and no denizen of this increasingly restaurant-heavy part of the city - lacks experience ordering from this slice-centric spot. That's in part because what its menu refers to as a "slice" you might call a "giant monster wedge." Toppings are piled high, too. One slice of the Veggie Delight offers a full day's recommended good-stuff intake.
Next Article >Kansas City Business Journal
March 17, 2011
By Krista Klaus
Gas station restaurant concept Pizza 51 wants to give customers a chance to fill up at a second Kansas City-area location.
Owner Jason Pryor said he is in negotiations to buy the former Sinclair Oil station at the southwest corner of 60th Street and Mission Road in Fairway.
Although the location is not in a traditional retail area, Pryor thinks the high neighborhood traffic and distinctness of his restaurant concept will drive customers into his new store.
"The character of the building stands out," Pryor said. "Anybody can eat a pizza in a strip mall, but having that experience in a gas station is different."
Pizza 51's original location, 5060 Oak St. in Kansas City, opened in 2004 and has been a neighborhood draw. It took two years from the idea phase to opening day, in part because of the length of time to complete environmental testing to verify the safety of serving food from an old gas station.
Pryor said that financing for his new venture is secured but that "an environmental issue" is holding up the project.
Once due diligence is completed and Pryor closes on the property, he will set an opening date.
But Pryor said this expansion probably will be Pizza 51's last. "Based on what's been involved with this new location, I'd say two is going to be our limit," he said.
Next Article >Pitch.com
March 17, 2011
By Jonathan Bender
Pizza 51 could be coming to Fairway.
Pizza 51 is apparently looking at another former gas station as it considers opening a second pizza shop. Krista Klaus of the Kansas City Business Journal reports that Pizza 51 owner Jason Pryor is in negotiations to buy the former Sinclair Oil station at 60th and Mission in Fairway.
"The character of the building stands out," Pryor told the KCBJ. "Anybody can eat a pizza in a strip mall, but having that experience in a gas station is different.
Pizza 51 opened at 5060 Oak in 2004 and was named the Pitch's best pizza two years later. The restaurant has a Route 66 theme with state license plates.
The slices in the former filling station are enormous, served on plates rather than trays. In addition to some unusual toppings, such as cream cheese and green olives, Pizza 51 also features the "Cowtown Lovers," a monstrous slice with pepperoni, sausage and Canadian bacon.
Fairway could use a pizza restaurant. There's a Minsky's (6921 Tomahawk Road) about a mile away in Prairie Village and a Godfather's Pizza a little farther west at 7002 Johnson Drive in Mission.
Next Article >KansasCity.com
Oct 18, 2008
By Adam R. Gebhardt and Tim Engle
You might assume a trip to the restroom would be the least noteworthy experience of a night on the town.
After all, what is there really to report? A toilet stall, sink and, for men, perhaps a urinal — items that don't exactly provoke scintillating dinner conversation.
But bathroom decor is changing. Increasingly, the room that formerly dare not be named is no longer a design afterthought. Sometimes restrooms in public places can be downright cool.
Some business owners and managers speak of their desire to carry the branding of their establishment into their public restrooms. Customers often spend several minutes in these spaces. The more intimate, upscale or unique they are, the more likely the customer will leave with a positive overall opinion of the business.
Bathroom design can be as random and varied as any other public interior space. But as decorators, architects and business owners become more daring, these rooms are less likely to be tucked away in the back.
DOLPHIN
1600 Liberty St., West BottomsIf you happen to look up in the men's room here, you'll notice the fluorescent lights have a message for you:
BAIL OUT.
This being an art gallery, the cut-out letters (inspired, of course, by the $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan) qualify as artwork. This art comes with a price tag: half a trillion dollars.
"It probably should be a trillion by now," jokes the piece's creator, Dolphin employee Archie Scott Gobber.
Men's restrooms aren't usually a place you want to hang out in, but Dolphin's boasts so much cool artwork, it's a gallery unto itself: photos of a 1939 bathing beauty contest at a local ballpark, the crowd at Coney Island in 1938, the downtown KC of yesteryear. A Schlitz beer ad from the '50s. A New York subway system map.
Most unique, though, is what's displayed just to the right of the urinal: a silver-leafed, smashed-in doughnut with pink frosting. In a frame.
"There's not a lick of mold on it," Gobber notes.
Much of the art came from the men's room at Dolphin's previous location in the Crossroads.
The women's room, though, is totally new — and designed by owner John O'Brien's 12-year-old daughter, Kaitlin.
"She's always worked on different projects with me," O'Brien says. "She has quite an eye."
Kaitlin proposed a small lounge area with sinks outside two private toilet rooms. She worked up drawings and went with her dad to find the sinks she wanted, which sit on a walnut table built by Dolphin artist Robin Beard. She also chose the artwork (some from her own collection), the turquoise paint, old-school light fixtures and floor tile.
Designing restrooms (and other interior spaces) is nothing new for Dolphin. Two examples: City Tavern and Harry's Country Club.
REVERSE
618 Ward Parkway, Country Club PlazaThe focal point of the men's room at ReVerse is the stainless steel wall with an etched-in check pattern that covers the entire north wall from floor to ceiling. The steel provides an edgy, urban feel, while the classic check pattern adds sophistication.
But most apparent in both the men's and women's rooms is the use of LCD TV screens, which were installed about a year and a half ago.
"Customers came into the restaurant wanting to know what was going on," says general manager Ralph Cervantes. "This was a great way to convey that."
Frames that appear on the screens promote special offers at the restaurant as well as upcoming events and activities. For the guys, the LCDs are mounted flush in the wall above the urinals for easy reading.
For the ladies, however, the look is taken up a notch: In their restroom, the screens are mounted behind the vanity mirrors.
KONA GRILL
444 Ward Parkway, Country Club PlazaAt Kona Grill the bathroom sinks are the main attractions.
In these vanities, the faucets float from beneath a small shelf with a sleek, unassuming placement. The oversized, natural-stone basins slope toward the drain in angular, jagged sections, creating a waterfall effect.
The sinks in the men's and women's rooms are identical with the exception of color. The women have a white vanity; the men get black.
General manager Michael Tumbali says the waterfall effect was designed to create a tropical feel in line with Kona's Hawaiian namesake and sushi menu.
There is one drawback to the vanity design.
"Customers can never find the valve that
controls the sink," Tumbali says. "But people always say how much they love them."
PIZZA 51
51st and Oak streetsThis pizza place's logo is reminiscent of federal highway signs. Old license plates and hubcaps cover one wall. Booths are reserved for "Compact Cars Only."
So how would you carry the car theme — this place was a gas station, then an auto repair business — into the restrooms?
Slap on some bumper stickers.
Sorry, ladies, but only the men's room is plastered with bumper stickers, which are intended not to offend. No Obama or McCain stickers. Nothing about abortion.
So what do these stickers advocate? Wisdom. Humor. What one employee calls "hippie enlightenment."
Such as: "If you remember the '60s you probably weren't there." And: "People never lie as much as after fishing, during a war or before an election."
"I don't think my bathroom is the place to make a (political) statement," says Jason Pryor, who owns Pizza 51 with his wife, Shannon. "My goal is just to serve good pizza."
The bumper stickers are merely "something to read while you're doing your business," Pryor says.
But customers, many of them University of Missouri-Kansas City students, seem to dig the stickers. Sometimes a little too much.
Shannon polyurethaned them to the wall, but that ended up shrinking the stickers, causing their corners to turn up — and making them easier to swipe. And indeed some of the stickers have hit the road.
Meanwhile, women customers have let Jason know they'd like something on their room's walls, too. And they'll get it.
Not bumper stickers, but road maps and atlases.
"It's pretty cheap art, if you want to call it that," Pryor says.
NARA
1617 Main St., CrossroadsDesign of public restrooms can go beyond branding and interior continuity. Sometimes it can just be fun.
At Nara, both the men's and women's restrooms are in the basement of the building (which dates to early 1900s), complete with concrete floors and raw brick walls. The space is modernized by a healthy dose of floor-to-ceiling mirrors. But the centerpiece is the single sink that both restrooms share.
In the wall between the restrooms, a concrete trough-style sink is all that separates the girls from the boys. The flirty sink adds mystery with a half-wall above the faucets, preventing one sex from seeing the faces or upper bodies of the other. Hands mingle freely in the context of soapy suds and water.
Nara is Casey Adams' first restaurant, but he knew he wanted something fun.
"I had seen these common areas in baths before when traveling, and I thought it was a great idea," he says. "It's received a lot of talk."
JUSTUS DRUGSTORE
106 W. Main St., SmithvilleJonathan Justus opened his restaurant in a former drugstore that was once owned by his family. Before redesigning the property into an upscale restaurant, Justus and his wife, Camille Eklof, reflected on their favorite dining experiences from around the world.
"It had happened to us so many times in our travels," Justus says. "We wanted our own diners to have the experience of visiting the restrooms and coming back to their tables saying, "You've gotta check out the bathroom."
Probably the most talked-about feature in Justus Drugstore's restrooms is the floors. They are polished concrete, a material more typically used in uber-contemporary spaces. Stenciled medallions on the floor reflect the eclectic international feel that permeates the rest of the restaurant. The tiles encompass Moroccan, Persian and Ottoman Empire motifs. Justus was inspired by details he saw on liturgical books.
In the men's room, the world-traveler look continues with an original framed map of the 1951 Tour de France.
Next Article >By Erik Berg
Students and area residents are once again filling up at the old gas station on the corner of 51st St. and Oak St. But instead choosing what grade of octane they'll have, today their deciding whether they want pepperoni or sausage, Bud or Bud Light.
Sept. 15 was opening day for Pizza 51, a new restaurant located across the street from the University's Volker Campus. The newest in a line of restaurants along 51st St., Pizza 51 offers customers pizza, beer and an open-air urban atmosphere.
"This place is cool," said Stephen Roper, a computer science major who attended the dry run with a group of friends on Tuesday night. "It adds to the urban campus. The pieces [of pizza] are huge."
"It's a nice blend of the modern with the old 1950s gas station," said Brian Ho, a pre-med student who attended the dry run with Roper. "It makes you feel like you're in Lawrence [Kan., home to the University of Kansas]."
"Yeah, but this couldn't be in Lawrence," Roper said. "It's not as busy as Lawrence. It's more relaxed here."
Relaxation is not on the menu for owners Jason and Shannon Pryor. "It's been a long renovation," said Shannon Pryor, "but its gone pretty well."
"There were a lot of obstacles," said Jason Pryor. Among Pryor's obstacles, proper city clearances and liquor licenses had to be obtained, new plumbing and electrical systems installed, and an environmental review of the property completed due to its petrochemical past.
Long time residents of Brookside, the Pryors drove past the vacant station for years wondering how it might best be put to use again. Then a little borrowed inspiration struck. "The idea for a pizza place came because there is a place similar to it in Atlanta for Georgia Tech students," said Mr. Pryor.
Soon after the couple began work on the derelict station, they discovered they would have a larger customer base than first expected. "We started in Oct. 2002," said Shannon Pryor, "That was three months before [the University] announced they were going to build the new dorm."
"Originally, we were just going to serve Twin Oaks and the Residence Hall," said Mr. Pryor. "I just hope we can keep up with demand."
The Pryors added that in the future, they plan to add delivery services and have live entertainment on the large outdoor patio where the pumps that once fed Pontiacs have been replaced by pizza that feeds patrons.
Reviews were mixed from patrons on Pizza 51's first day of business. "The price was a bit too high for college students," said Maurice Daniels, a freshman in Spanish.
"You can get pizza like that at the U-Center," said Octavia Collins, a senior at the Bloch School of Business and Public Administration and friend of Daniels. "It's a good atmosphere, though. We don't have too many options on campus, and Subway gets played out."
Crestwood residents Tula Thompson and Beth Sauer said they were surprised by Pizza 51. "I was driving past to pick her [Sauer] up for lunch, and I saw this place and said 'Oh, somewhere new.' It's always fun to be the first to spread the word."
"We didn't know what to expect," said Sauer. "The pizza was very good. I love the location. They need another place like this in Brookside."
Thompson added, "Yeah, they could call it Pizza 62nd."
As more residential and retail options move in along Oak St., urban planners are encouraged by the University's change from a commuter campus to an urban campus. "Ideally, the campus should flow into the city, and the city into the campus," said Michael Frisch, PhD, AICP, assistant professor at the UMKC School of Architecture, Urban Planning, and Design. "That we're beginning to do that on Oak St. is great. Now, let's see it on Troost. We're bounded north and south, so we have to do that east and west."
Frisch added that he liked the way the old station was being used and that it had a favorable location. "I wish I had invested in it," he said.
Neighbors also welcome the addition of Pizza 51. "It's better than an empty gas station, and I'm a big fan of beer," joked Oliver Burnette, owner of Muddy's Coffee Shop since it opened. "I've been here 10 years, and as the University grows it brings more hustle and bustle. There's more of that city feel with more people."
Burnette added that no competitive spirit exists on 51st St. "It just brings more people to the area," he said. "Everyone seems to work well together here."
Next Article >Pitch: Fat City
Thursday, Feb. 18 2010
By Jonathan Bender
While it's not that common to see people walking around the busy streets of Kansas City eating a slice of pizza, a few shops that have carved out a niche dishing up hot slices.
This battle pits d'Bronx -- the New York style shop known for its thin crust pizza -- and just to mix things up, we'll order from the Overland Park location rather than the original shop on 39th Street. Over in the South Plaza area, it's Pizza 51 -- with the oversized wedges designed to feed the growing college students at nearby UMKC.
These slices will be judged on portability, roof-of-the-mouth-burning ability, crispiness and satisfaction of hunger. To avoid being unduly influenced by toppings, it's a straight cheese versus cheese match-up. Because like vanilla cupcakes, if you can make a memorable cheese slice, then you can make good pizza.
D'Bronx ($3.07)
The weight of the cheese gives a bit of flop to this thin-crust slice. This is clearly a cheese slice, not a sauce slice. The cheese pulls off in molten strings -- meaning the roof of your mouth will sting if your first bite is too large. When you get down to the sauce, it is a bit peppery, a good balance to the sweetness of the tomatoes.
The crust has a slightly yeasty quality is slightly blackened on the bottom, which is a good omen when it comes to pizza. Overall, the slice has the taste and properties of a calzone.
Pizza 51 ($3.19)
This slice is so large, it can't truly fit in the to-go box. The tip of the slice (top right) has to be placed perpendicular to the rest of the slice, which is cut in the same fashion as St. Louis style pizza. At first glance this feels like you're getting a personal pizza rather than a slice. While this is not great for walking, the cuts make each mini-slice the perfect size to inhale while driving.
This is a soft slice -- soft enough that it didn't bother me to eat it an hour after getting a root canal. But the crusts are slightly darkened, meaning the closer you get to the edge, the more crunch you get. The change in textures is nice -- it feels like the slice is rewarding you for working hard to finish it. The sauce and cheese are balanced and grow on you as you work you way across the massive triangle.
Results:
D'Bronx gains the edge for portability -- assuming you're walking -- and the ability to sear the roof of your mouth. Pizza 51 gets the nod for a crispier crust and the ability to satisfy John Goodman. Hit up d'Bronx if you need one, good slice; but head to Pizza 51 if you really feel like sitting down and eating some pizza.
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